Gentree Fund

Oct 25, 2022

Manila, 12 August 2022 – edamama, the Philippines’ leading parenting-focused e-commerce platform, has secured a USD 20 million (PHP 1.1 Bn) Series A funding round led by Alpha JWC Ventures – one of Southeast Asia's most prominent venture capital firms. The oversubscribed fundraise is one of the Philippines’ largest early-stage rounds, and includes significant participation by edamama’s existing investors, notable among which are Gentree Fund, Robinsons Retail Holdings Inc. (RRHI), and Kickstart Ventures – affiliated with the Sy, Gokongwei, and Ayala families respectively, who collectively control the three largest shopping mall operators in the country. Temasek affiliate Innoven Capital, Foxmont Capital Partners, and renowned angel investor Lisa Gokongwei-Cheng are also among edamama’s repeat investors in the round. Launched in May 2020 by husband and wife founders Nishant D’Souza and Bela Gupta, edamama offers a personalized shopping experience through content, community, and commerce-driven strategies that simplify decision-making for parents. Through its proprietary platform, edamama helps bridge the trust gap in the Philippine retail landscape for safe, authentic, and affordable parenting products and services. Since its launch, edamama has grown to fulfill tens of thousands of monthly orders with industry-leading average order values and customer retention rates. The Series A funding was secured on the back of the 100x growth edamama achieved amidst the global pandemic, which precipitated the need for a safer and more trustworthy approach to digitally accessing products and services for families across the Philippines. The startup has continued to maintain strong momentum, having delivered over 1.5 million products to Filipino doorsteps across the country, leveraging its embedded warehousing and logistics fleet. edamama has also pioneered multiple market-first parenting innovations, including the country’s first online gift registry, subscription services for everyday essentials, and an integrated portal for content and services – with several more platform features in the pipeline. “As parents, we want the best for our children. However, parents in the Philippines have limited options for quality products, and there is also a dearth of credible platforms for product reviews. edamama fills that buyer confidence gap by giving parents access to the best shopping experience with a wide range of quality SKUs, and trusted by a strong community that supports parents on their most exciting journeys," stated Eko Kurniadi, Partner of Investments at Alpha JWC Ventures. “We are very impressed by the caliber of the team and the top-notch processes that were developed despite edamama being at an early venture stage. It shows that edamama centers on deep customer understanding with best-in-class operations. This foundation sets edamama up for exponential growth and we look forward to partnering with Bela, Nish, and the team!" adds Kurniadi. This latest round is set to fuel the expansion of edamama’s operations, including same-day and next-day delivery solutions to more locations across Metro Manila and beyond. Further, the funding will be used to enhance the company’s content and community elements, launch its own offline stores and scale its private label portfolio. “Alpha JWC’s outstanding track record with some of the most successful ventures in the region offers edamama the opportunity to leverage global best practices to serve our customers better and faster every day,” quote edamama founders Bela Gupta and Nishant D’Souza, expressing their enthusiasm about the new milestone. "Our team is honored by this vote of confidence and grateful to our repeat investors for their ongoing trust and unparalleled support as we build a leading parenting brand." edamama’s vision is to be the #1 parenting brand in Southeast Asia, serving a 680 million population base through its innovative platform, omnichannel strategy, and trusted brand assortment. Given the deep regional experience and network of its founders and investors, the business continues to evaluate opportunities for expansion into adjacent geographies.