E-commerce enabler Shopmatic merges with retail management platform Octopus

Singapore-based e-commerce enabler Shopmatic Pte. Ltd said it has merged with Octopus Retail Management Pte. Ltd, also headquartered in the island nation, to create a single entity that will offer omnichannel offerings for small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

With the combined entity, online businesses can boost their e-commerce technology with Shopmatic’s solutions and tap into the physical retail opportunity with Octopus’ point-of-sales solution.

The collaboration will allow both firms to leverage each other’s geographical strengths, Shopmatic said in a statement. Shopmatic has a strong presence in India, Middle East, Singapore and Hong Kong while Octopus operates in China, Malaysia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Taiwan and the US (United States).

The combined entity will acquire 500,000 customers, generate more than $2 billion of Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) and achieve $10 million in revenue in 2019, the statement said.

“Our merger with Octopus will enhance the offline-online synergy. Their strength and experience in point-of-sales suite of solutions, which have benefitted a variety of businesses spanning the retail, food and beverages and e-commerce sectors, will be of immense value to merchants across the Asia-Pacific region,” Anurag Avula, co-founder and chief executive, Shopmatic, said.

The Shopmatic platform helps SMEs build their online stores where they can sell their products or services through multiple channels while Octopus offers cloud-based retail management solutions to bricks-and-mortar businesses.

Shopmatic was founded in 2014 by payment industry veterans Avula, Yen Lim and Kris Chen, all of whom have had stints at PayPal. As part of its solutions for SMEs, Shopmatic provides an integrated payment and shipping function. The platform also has data analytics and insights built into it to help sellers reach their target audience.  

The company had raised an angel investment of $1.5 million from undisclosed investors from India, the US and Singapore and $5.7 million in its Series A round of funding from ACP Pte. Ltd, a technology-focussed venture capital firm, and Spring Seeds Capital Pte. Ltd, the investment subsidiary of SPRING Singapore, a unit of the government of Singapore.

Singapore-headquartered Octopus, founded in 2002 by Ong Whee Shiong, helps retailers synchronise inventory, on-board customers through mobile platform, offer loyalty points and support customer promotions. The solution offers real-time visibility of sales, performance of staff, and inventory.