Kuala Lumpur-based B2B wholesale marketplace Dropee is the second Malaysian startup to enter Y Combinator’s program as it is listed in Y Combinator’s winter 2020 batch.
Founded in 2017 by local entrepreneurs Lennise Ng and Aizat Rahim, Dropee is a SaaS-enabled marketplace that connects brands with local retailers in Southeast Asia. Dropee aims to help local independent retailers find their best-seller investors by matching them with the right suppliers and brands.
The platform leverages artificial intelligence and predictive analytics to forecast which products will sell so retailers can source and manage inventory as efficiently as possible.
According to Dropee, small and medium-sized enterprises in Malaysia have two common problems. They struggle to access business capital mainly due to complicated paperwork and a lack of collaterals for their loans. Moreover, most of them are also not eligible for any credit term payments from various distributors and wholesalers across the country. Dropee is addressing this issue by providing up to 60-days credit terms to all brick-and-mortar retailers when they purchase wholesale products on the platform.
Dropee also offers risk-free returns which allow retailers to try out, as well as introduce new brands and products to their local communities.
Over the past year, Dropee has grown 400% and has more than 4,000 retail users across Malaysia, according to an official press statement. The startup raised USD 350,000 seed investment in January 2019 from Malaysian VC firm Vynn Capital and Indonesia’s Prasetia Dwidharma. According to the firm’s CEO Lennise Ng, the company is set to raise USD 1 million from several investors, one of which is Y Combinator. The deal is expected to close in the second quarter of 2020.
This year, Dropee will continue strengthening its presence in Malaysia, while also preparing for regional expansion into neighboring countries such as Indonesia and Thailand. Dropee is expected to hit more than RM40 million transactions and serve 10,000 retail users by the end of 2020.
