RPG Commerce founders
Kuala Lumpur-headquartered RPG Commerce, a company that builds, launches and scales multi-brand e-commerce businesses globally, has secured an undisclosed amount in Series A round of investment.
Lead investors are Temasek-backed Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia, and Joseph Phua, co-founder and Chairman of 17 Live.
The funds will be utilised to accelerate the growth of more brands and further its expansion globally, RPG said in a statement. A part of the money also will go into regional expansion, talent acquisition, brand building, and R&D.
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Incorporated in Singapore, RPG Commerce is a multi-brand direct-to-consumer (DTC) company that launches and operates a suite of e-commerce brands via a ‘shared backend infrastructure’ approach.
Unlike the recent wave of startups that seek to roll up small e-commerce brands purely via brand acquisitions and selling on other e-commerce platforms, RPG primarily launches and incubates its own native brands in tandem with acquiring brands.
The firm says it is able to develop, test and launch a brand with a lot less capital and, at the same time, being able to scale each brand quickly.
While its products are present in over 40 countries, its current main markets are in the USA, Europe, Australia and Asia.
To date, it has launched over 10 brands globally in different categories such as men’s fashion, home and living, and fashion accessories.
Currently, it has over 100 employees in several locations globally.
Appoints Warren Tseng as new COO
In line with the funds raised, RPG Commerce also announced the appointment of Warren Tseng as its new COO. He will be tasked with leading the operation of the business and championing the strategic direction in alignment with the company’s development.
Tseng was previously General Manager of ride-hailing giant Uber (Singapore and Malaysia), and helmed the APAC market as Regional General Manager at CloudKitchens, a startup venture by Travis Kalanick, co-founder and former CEO of Uber.
RPG Commerce co-founder and CEO Melvin Chee said: “This new-normal created by societal reaction to the pandemic has accelerated the entire e-commerce industry and never been a more favourable period for DTC brands to rise. Having direct access to our customers gives us a strategic advantage over better understanding of their needs, armed with our agile operations that continuously enhance our products based on our customers’ feedback.”
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We firmly believe that brands will build long lasting relationships with their customers through satisfying their needs and achieving their goals,” he added.
Chua Joo Hock, Managing Partner of Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia said: “We have seen the scaling problems of first generation D2C e-commerce models that generally focus on a single product or vertical. We are happy to partner with Melvin and his team, as the first outside investor in RPG Commerce, to build the next generation leader of a D2C company based on multi-brands.”
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Image Credit: RPG Commerce
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