Malaysia's First Online Grocer Jocom Raises S$5.6 mn for National & Global Expansion
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Malaysia's First Online Grocer Jocom Raises S$5.6 mn for National & Global Expansion

The company behind Malaysia’s first grocery mobile app Jocom International Holdings SDN. BHD. has successfully listed part of its share capital on Singapore’s first regulated private securities exchange, 1exchange (“1X”), raising aggregate proceeds of S$5.6 million. This starts a new chapter in its ambitions to expand its presence locally and abroad.

The listing is 1X’s second cross-border listing, as well as the third private securities exchange listing of its kind in Singapore. Part of CapBridge Financial, and backed by Singapore Exchange (“SGX”), SGInnovate, South Korea’s Hanwha Investment and Securities Co, Hong Kong’s Cyberport Macro Fund, and AMTD Digital1, 1X is Singapore’s first regulated private securities exchange with a Recognised Market Operator licence granted by the Monetary Authority of Singapore.

Established in 2015, Jocom, which is an acronym for “Just Order Conveniently on Mobile”, operates a mobile grocery store through its subsidiaries Jocom MShopping SDN. BHD. (“Jocom MShopping”) and Jocom Ethirty seven SDN. BHD., and has built a sizeable base of three million users, 500 vendors, and 15,000 SKUs as of today. It started out as Malaysia’s first grocery mobile app and has evolved into one of few end-to-end platforms for grocery shopping in Malaysia. It has full control over the entire order journey from purchase to fulfillment and has ownership over the platform, proprietary software, delivery fleet, and storage facilities. 

Joshua Sew, Founder and CEO, Jocom, said, “Our dream for Jocom is to be the ‘category killer’ in online grocery shopping and we are ready to share our growth story with investors and kickstart a new brand journey for Jocom. Our outperformance during Malaysia’s Movement Control Order at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic has proven our resilience and relevance as an essential, mobile-enabled business and we believe this is an opportune time to launch an overhaul of our own platform. Funding aside, our new status as a listee on a private securities exchange backed by the SGX will also expose Jocom to a new pool of investors and enhance its positioning for more business opportunities in the future.”

Choo Haiping, Chief Executive Officer, 1X, stated, “We are pleased to welcome Jocom, Malaysia’s fastest-growing mobile commerce platform. For many customers, Jocom’s specialist mobile app has been a reliable, convenient, and efficient one-stop-shop for their groceries and lifestyle needs. Jocom has also contributed greatly to the digital transformation of many traditional businesses in Malaysia, through its accessible mobile commerce solutions. Jocom can count on the 1X platform as it continues on its growth journey.”

Riding on the increasing popularity of online grocery shopping in Malaysia, Jocom has generated approximately US$40 million in sales revenue between 2015 and 2020. As the world grappled with supply chain disruptions and the economic fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, Jocom’s sales leaped 30% year-on-year, boosted by an increase in online grocery purchases of essential items as people complied with the MCO.

The Company plans to invest significant resources into developing an AI-powered back-end system that will analyse big data such as demographics, customer preferences, and spending power, and transform it into actionable insights for targeted marketing activities. The AI-driven analytical insights will also support delivery logistics, inventory management, and merchandise pricing, streamlining of processes, and generating cost efficiencies.

Beyond Malaysia, Jocom has started making inroads in China, channelling sales of Malaysian products to Chinese consumers. Moving forward, it plans to expand its operations to markets such as Indonesia and Australia, positioning itself as a gateway for Malaysian producers to make their products available to overseas markets.

 
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