Digital Mall of Asia raises $3 mn ahead of January launch

Digital Mall of Asia, a platform that aims to offer a virtual shopping mall experience, has raised $3 million from real estate investor Satish Jain through an entity called Amour Infrastructure. 

The company will use the capital infusion to ramp up product development, branding and create awareness around its key offerings, followed by an upcoming launch in January 2020, it said in a statement.

Promoted by Noida-based Yokeasia Malls, Digital Mall of Asia claims to offer offline retailers and vendors an opportunity to go online and create immersive consumer experiences. The company is using AR/VR to deliver enhanced shopping experiences. Customers will be able to virtually move through exclusive digital retail shops, trial rooms, hypermarket stores, night clubs (music streaming), movie theatres (video streaming) and food courts (online ordering).

The company aims to operate on a zero-commission model, which means that retailers will be required to only pay a fixed monthly rent of Rs 10,000. Vendors can also sign up for exclusive rights to sell a particular product or brand in a city at the mall.

“We are extremely delighted to bring on-board an industry veteran like Satish Jain as our strategic investment partner. With his domain expertise and valuable insights, we are confident to unlock the potential of DMA in the Indian e-commerce space and offer seamless shopping experiences to consumers pan-India,” Rishabh Mehra, managing director and CEO of Digital Mall of Asia, said.

The company plans to integrate eight countries in this system, including China, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia. Each of these locations will have a separate virtual mall catering to its respective audiences.