HipVan raises S$4.7m in venture capital funding

SINGAPORE — Homegrown furniture and home accessories online retailer HipVan has landed S$4.7 million in Series A funding, led by Singapore-based venture capital firm Golden Gate Ventures, among other investors.

This is the second funding round this week by Golden Gate Ventures, and its single largest investment to date. On Tuesday, Golden Gate Ventures also revealed it was part of a S$2.8 million series A funding round for personal finance portal MoneySmart.sg, another Singapore start-up.

Other companies that Golden Gate Ventures has invested in include the online grocery store Redmart, consumer-to-consumer shopping app Carousell and the property portal 99.co.

HipVan chief executive Danny Tan said he wants to build the “next IKEA” over the Internet, highlighting the opportunities in online furniture retailing.

He noted that HipVan, which was founded in 2013, sees more than 150,000 online shoppers at its store every month.

“The biggest opportunities in e-commerce today target the emerging segment of Internet savvy consumers in their late 20s onwards with a high disposable income,” Mr Tan said.

“We believe this is the perfect time to build ‘the next IKEA’ online with a much wider product selection, and a more efficient business model that lets us pass on savings to our customers.”

Of immediate plans for the funding, he said: “It will be used to grow the company across the board, with a special focus on developing the brand’s private label products.” Other plans, added Mr Tan, include sourcing directly from manufacturers.

HipVan has 35 employees in Singapore and another 15 in the rest of Asia. The company has employed senior hires from large furniture producers, audit and consultancy firm KPMG, online fashion retailer Zalora and deals site Groupon.

According to a company statement, other investors in HipVan’s current round of funding include East Ventures and LionRock Global.

Mr Vinnie Lauria, founding partner at Golden Gate Ventures, highlighted that HipVan uses data to make smarter decisions.

“Danny and his co-founder, Shobhit Datta, use data for every decision. They use business intelligence to closely monitor how campaigns and layout of the site affects performance. We love founders that have an appreciation for this level of detail and use it to make smarter decisions, rather than flying blind on assumptions,” he said.

Singapore, which leads South-east Asia in terms of the number of start-ups, is capturing the lion’s share of tech investments in the region, Golden Gate Ventures said in a report in July.

The number of venture-capital deals worth between US$1 million (S$1.4 million) and US$10 million is expected to double to 40 next year in South-east Asia, according to the Golden Gate Ventures study.

“Aggregate Series A investments in South-east Asia in 2015 are expected to be approximately US$85 million, which is similar to those of India in 2010 and China in 2005; the aggregate Series A investment in Singapore in 2015 is expected to be around US$55 million,” it said in the report.

Golden Gate Ventures in July announced its second, US$50 million fund to support start-ups in the region.

Singapore investment firm Temasek Holdings and Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin are among the main investors.