Indonesia-based cashback and consumer analytics tup Snapcart today announced it secured US$10 million in series A funding to enter new markets.
The round was led by existing investor Vickers Venture Partners, with participation from Social Capital, Kickstart Ventures, and Endeavor Catalysts. Other existing backers Wavemaker Partners and SPH Ventures also put it in cash.
Launched in 2015, Snapcart lets users take a picture of their receipt whenever they buy something to earn money back. By “reading” the contents of the receipt, its analytics software gathers consumer data from offline purchases, like who bought what, when, from where. It’s the kind of data that’s usually only available to ecommerce platforms. This method basically replaces time- and cost-consuming manual data collection through surveys.
This data is what it sells to brands. Using Snapcart’s analytics dashboards, brands can see their performance in real-time, and slice and dice the data based on shopper profiles, retail chains, and geographics.
Snapcart founder and CEO Reynazran Royono said his team’s product helps brands to immediately react to changes and trends in consumer behavior.
The startup closed its US$3 million pre-series A round early this year. Apart from its home base Indonesia, it operates in the Philippines and recently opened a Singapore office for business development and client acquisition. It has more than 700,000 users and works with 75 fast-moving consumer brands like Unilever, Nestle, and L’oreal.
Snapcart will use the fresh capital to enter new markets and further develop its product. Royono said they’re looking at three markets in Southeast Asia, but declined to name them.
The company is currently working on improving its text-reading technology and machine learning capabilities.
It will also introduce a new product that’s designed to capture information on transactions at traditional mom-and-pop shops for a complete overview of the retail landscape. Those shops normally do not have cash registers, hence no receipts. “This new product will act as a point-of-sale system to use as cashier, allowing Snapcart to tap into traditional trade data as opposed to current research method of field agents counting inventories,” Royono said.
“We’re really excited that Snapcart is beginning not just to generate repeat revenues from their customers but see these revenues grow rapidly,” noted Jeffrey Chi, vice chairman of Vickers.
Royono is keeping mum on the company’s financial metrics.
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As written in Tech In Asia here
