Social commerce — the method of shopping for and promoting services or products instantly by way of social media platforms like Fb, Instagram and TikTok — is changing into essentially the most pure manner for shoppers to make purchases since folks use social media and messaging apps nearly on daily basis.
SleekFlow, an omnichannel social commerce platform that helps companies construct buyer move automation from messaging and stay video to transactions, has closed $8 million Collection A funding led by Tiger International Administration. Transcend Capital and AEF Larger Bay Space Fund, managed by Gobi Companions GBA, additionally participated within the spherical.
“Customers now spend 80 p.c of their time on social platforms, and it’s already a behavior to find and purchase merchandise instantly from right here,” mentioned founder and CEO of SleekFlow Henson Tsai. “SleekFlow goals to drive this e-commerce revolution by being the highest social commerce unified hub — merging conversations, product catalogs, fee options, and order administration into one for companies.”
Picture Credit: SleekFlow
Based in 2019, SleekFlow now serves greater than 5,000 companies throughout the globe, together with NARS Cosmetics, Bossini, Lalamove Hong Kong and PSB Academy. The corporate claims that it noticed roughly 500% income development after its current pre-Collection A funding backed by Alibaba Hong Kong Entrepreneurs Fund (AHKEF) in Could 2021. (SleekFlow didn’t present its baseline for that development.)
The Hong Kong-headquartered startup will use the contemporary capital for its market penetration into Southeast Asia, particularly Singapore and Malaysia, in addition to the U.Okay. and different nations in Europe. As well as, the newest funding will allow SleekFlow to reinforce its product growth with fintech and information analytics capabilities, one-click checkouts through social media platforms, and straightforward in-chat fee integrations for on-line to offline (O2O) and e-commerce manufacturers’ seamless workflow.
The startup has not too long ago launched a fintech product social-to-payment function to supply a complete answer for each e-commerce and brick-and-mortar companies. In Southeast Asia alone, about 90% of digital retailers use digital funds for profitability and survival, the corporate says, including that the chat-to-checkout device is critical in driving gross sales and conversions from numerous digital gross sales channels. SleekFlow additionally launched a brand new gross sales and analytics and customer support efficiency monitoring that helps customers monitor and analyze shopper profiles and behaviors for customized communications after its partnership with Shopify final November.
The worldwide social commerce market is projected to rise to $6.2 trillion by 2030.
In accordance with the corporate, one in 5 {dollars} spent on retail in Southeast Asia is transacted by way of social media, and extra shoppers wish to companies providing handy communications. SleekFlow integrates a number of messaging channels akin to Official WhatsApp Enterprise API, Fb Messenger, Instagram chat, SMS and Telegram to handle the challenges of managing a number of messaging and social media platforms.
“Regardless of the financial downturn, the social commerce market goes stronger than ever, reaching $474 billion in 2021,” Chibo Tang, managing accomplice of Gobi Companions GBA mentioned in a press release. “Eight in 10 U.S. companies anticipate elevated gross sales through social media inside the subsequent three years. SleekFlow’s modern options will assist these world commerce companies meet the evolving wants of shoppers who’re turning to social channels to buy greater than ever earlier than.”
Slack now has a workforce of 60 members in Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan and the U.Okay.
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