Rocket Internet-incubated e-tailer Lazada raises $250M from Tesco & others

Southeast Asia-focused horizontal e-tailer Lazada has raised a subsequent round of funding worth $250 million from a group of investors, including Tesco and Access Industries. Existing investors Verlinvest and Investment AB Kinnevik also participated in the round. This is Tesco's maiden investment in a pure play online venture and will mark the beginning of cooperation between both the parties. Common grounds for synergies will include customer analytics, private label development and supply chain management.

Founded last year, Lazada is present in Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. It claimed to have crossed 1 million orders earlier this year.

Prior to this round, the company raised (in June 2013) $100 million in funding led by Verlinvest, a Belgian family-owned and consumer-focused investment holding company. Existing investors Holtzbrinck Ventures, Kinnevik, Summit Partners and Tengelmann Group also participated in the round.

"We are delighted to welcome Tesco and Access to join our investor group through this funding round," said Maximilian Bittner, CEO, Lazada Group.

"This investment in Lazada continues our strategy of developing leading multichannel businesses in core growth markets. Lazada has developed a market-leading offering in each of its five markets in just 18 months," said Robin Terrell, group multichannel director, Tesco.

(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)