Growsari, a Philippine-based B2B e-commerce platform backed by Tencent and private equity major KKR, has launched two new business units to serve the different needs of SMEs across industries and platforms in the country.
The new business units – SariMart and SariPay – will be operated separately from the Growsari platform. SariMart will be the B2B e-commerce business arm of Growsari, while SariPay will be its financial services company, according to the announcement.
Being independent units, SariMart and SariPay will have their own management team. For SariMart, Maimai Madrid-Punzalan will take the position of General Manager while Sandeep Bhalla will manage SariPay.
SariMart will be a B2B e-commerce wholesaler for neighbourhood MSMEs, such as sari-sari stores, carinderias, and bakeshops. It will partner with other offline and online players.
SariPay, on the other hand, will offer small business with working capital loans, cash management, remittances, and similar products. It has already worked with multiple partners outside the Growsari network.
“I am thrilled for this opportunity to continue serving the needs of sari-sari stores and other small retailers beyond Growsari’s current network to provide them convenient access to a broader range of products at affordable wholesale prices so they can maximise their earning potential,” Punzalan said.
Bhalla, who joins Growsari in 2021, said small stores have been left out of basic financial services by mainstream banks and companies.
“At SariPay, we want to continue building a financial ecosystem which is inclusive and easy to understand for the millions of MSMEs in the country,” Bhalla said.
Founded in 2016 by Reymund Rollan, Shivapratim Choudhury, Andrzej Ogonowski, and Siddhartha Kongara, Growsari provides a digital retail distribution platform connecting informal SME retailers to FMCG manufacturers and wholesalers.
It also allows small stores to provide communities with more comprehensive offerings, including digital services.
GrowSari is currently in 220 municipalities across the regions of Luzon and offers over a hundred different types of services, including making bill payments, telco reloads, and wallet top-ups, as well as procurement services for common retail goods, and pharmaceutical medicines.
In March last year, Growsari raised $77.5 million in Series C funding, led by KKR and backed by the International Finance Corporation and Pavilion Capital.