Alibaba grows presence in South Asia after acquiring Daraz

Alibaba has expanded its e-commerce presence in South Asia after acquiring Daraz to strengthen its globalization footprint.  

Daraz, which operates online marketplaces in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Nepal, will be able to leverage Alibaba’s leadership and experience in technology, online commerce, mobile payment and logistics to grow further in the five South Asian markets, said a joint statement on Tuesday.

“Together with Alibaba, we are ready to empower entrepreneurs in the region and to fulfill our promise to offer our customers the best selection of products with a high-level of convenience,” said Daraz Co-CEO Jonathan Doerr. 

Daraz would keep its brand name after the transaction, whose details were not released. 

The deal also helps increase Alibaba’s presence in South Asia and drive development there.

“We believe that a technology-enabled commerce ecosystem will play a critical role in driving the long term economic development in South Asia,” Alibaba Group CEO Daniel Zhang said. 

Founded in Pakistan in 2012, the Daraz platform hosts 30,000 sellers and 500 brands and offers about two million products with its five million shoppers.

Last month Alibaba’s financial affiliate Ant Financial invested in Bangladesh mobile financial service provider bKash, and is pushing to integrate its payment, cloud computing and logistics network to serve South Asian merchants. 

Earlier this year Alibaba invested an extra US$2 billion in Singapore-based and Southeast Asia's largest online site Lazada in which it already owns a controlling stake, and appointed Ant Financial’s chairwoman Lucy Peng as head of Lazada’s operations.