Expansion plans for lalamove
Southeast Asian on-demand delivery app lalamove, which has just marked first anniversary in Thailand, has announced that its plans for 2016 include “further huge expansion” and a Series B funding goal of $30m. Speaking in Bangkok today (15 December) during a during a visit from lalamove’s headquarters in Hong Kong, Blake Larson, the company’s Head of International, said: “There is a lot of local fragmentation in logistics in Southeast Asia. Add the growth of ecommerce in Thailand, fast-growing mobile penetration and demand for same-day delivery and there’s a real need to consolidate that supply chain. This supports existing and emerging SMEs and bigger corporates with value-added benefits whilst satisfying consumer delivery demands.”
Co-Founder & Managing Director Santit Jirawongkraisorn added: “Bangkok has been our best market so far in terms of volume, with strong download figures. There have been close to 30,000 downloads of the lalamove app in Bangkok and a few thousand drivers. Our transaction value is close to THB 19m and we’ve seen 20% month-over-month growth in the last three months. We expect to see increased growth in Bangkok by 5-10 times within 2016.”
Active in 15 cities, lalamove currently has 455,000 users and over 30,000 drivers in the region, achieving 2m deliveries with a total transaction value of around $20m.
Following two $20m investments, Larson confirmed that lalamove is seeking Series B funding in Q1/Q2 2016, possibly including Thai investors.
“In Thailand we are investing in a more streamlined local service to drive market through the network effect of delivery volume,” said Larson. “Around 50% of new business is from referrals. This cuts our customer acquisition costs, allowing us to invest in quality service and of course technology which is the backbone of our business.”
The company said that it has recently scored some major successes with “big-brand corporates”. IKEA in Singapore is working with lalamove on an in-store kiosk programme. In Hong Kong, lalamove recently partnered with Google, delivering the Nexus 5X and 6P phones for the first time in Asia.
“The swift success of localized delivery in Thailand after just one year is set to become a blueprint for lalamove expansion across cities within the ASEAN region and beyond,” the company added.
