2014 was an absolutely massive year for eCommerce in Asia as companies in the region raised $11.5B across 367 equity financings last year. The boom in financing activity was driven by a number of $100 million+ rounds, as well as five $500M+ financings to Asia Unicornssuch as Flipkart and Snapdeal.
Funding was up 312% and deals were up 59% versus 2013.
China and India account for majority of deals
There were over 120 equity investments made into Chinese eCommerce companies in 2014, accounting for 34% of all deals into the Asian eCommerce space. India saw the second highest tally of deals, as the only other country with over 100 investments in the year. Japan and Singapore followed in terms of deals, while South Korea saw the fifth most deals, and the third highest total funding, largely due to the $400M that Coupang raised across its Series C and D rounds from investors such as Sequoia Capital, Wellington Management, and Founder Collective.
The full geographic breakdown is below.
Early-Stage deals reach multi-year high
While later-stage deals made headlines in 2014, the majority of investments came in at the early-stage (Angel – Series A). 37% of all deals were in mid to late-stage financings. Overall, there were over 200 early-stage financings to Asian eCommerce companies in 2014, the highest total in the past 3 years, a sign that we may just be at the beginning of this industry’s boom.
Tiger Global dominates top deals
The top 20 deals in Asian eCommerce companies in 2014 raised over $7.2B cumulatively, with India’s answer to Amazon, Flipkart, accounting for 2 of the top 5 deals. These deals made made up $1.7B of the $1.9B the company raised last year across three rounds. Interestingly, when looking at the top deals, Tiger Global is everywhere having participated in 7 of the top 20 (5 of which were in the top 10) largest deals, including all three Flipkart financings, as well as investments in Uber alternative Kaudi Dache, Koudai Gouwu, Youxinpai, andBeijing Feixiangren IT, the owner of Ganji.com.
The full list of top deals below.
| Top Asia eCommerce Deals in 2014 | ||||
| Rank | Company | Round | Amount ($M) | Select Investors |
| 1 | Flipkart | Series G | 1000 | Accel Partners, Tiger Global Management, Morgan Stanley, Digital Sky Technologies, GIC Special Investments |
| 2 | Meituan | Series D | 700 | Sequoia Capital China |
| 2 | Flipkart | Series H | 700 | Tiger Global Management, T. Rowe Price, Digital Sky Technologies, GIC Special Investments |
| 4 | Snapdeal | Corporate Minority – II | 627 | Softbank Corp. |
| 5 | Kuaidi Dache | Series D | 600 | Tiger Global Management, Softbank Corp., Alibaba Group |
| 6 | Dianping | Corporate Minority | 400 | Tencent |
| 7 | Koudai Gouwu | Series C | 350 | Tiger Global Management, Digital Sky Technologies, Tencent |
| 8 | Coupang | Series D | 300 | BlackRock, Wellington Management, Greenoaks Capital Management |
| 8 | Meituan | Series C | 300 | Sequoia Capital China |
| 10 | Youxinpai | Series C | 260 | Tiger Global Management, Warburg Pincus |
| 11 | GrabTaxi | Series D | 250 | Softbank Corp. |
| 11 | Lazada | Series F | 250 | Temasek Holdings, Rocket Internet, Kinnevik, Verlinvest |
| 13 | Jingdong | Corporate Minority | 214.7 | ontario Teacher’s Pension Plan Board, Kingdom Holding Company |
| 14 | Olacabs | Corporate Minority | 210 | Softbank Corp. |
| 14 | Flipkart | Series F | 210 | Tiger Global Management, Digital Sky Technologies, Naspers, Iconiq Capital |
| 16 | Beijing Feixiangren Information Technology | Series E | 200 | Tiger Global Management, The Carlyle Group |
| 16 | Mogujie | Series D | 200 | QiMing Venture Partners, IDG Capital Partners, Banyan Capital |
| 16 | Tongcheng Network Technology Share Co. | Corporate Minority | 200 | Ctrip |
| 19 | Jumei International Holdings | Private Equity | 150 | General Atlantic |
| 20 | eLoancn | Corporate Minority | 147 | Legend Holdings |
Sequoia Capital China is Most Active
Sequoia Capital China was the most active investor in Asian eCommerce companies in 2014, investing in over 15 unique companies last year. The active year comes after Sequoia had raised a $530M fund to invest in Asia. Their most notable investment was in Meituan’s $700M Series D which valued the “Groupon of China” at $7B. IDG Capital Partners was second, investing in over 12 unique companies in 2014, including social commerce site Mogujie’s $200M Series D which valued the company at $1B. East Ventures, SAIF Partners, and the previously-mentioned Tiger Global (who raised $2.5B in 2014 to invest in venture financings) rounded out the top 5 all with over 10 unique company investments in 2014.
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Most Active Asia eCommerce Investors By Unique Companies, 2014 |
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| Rank | Investor | Notable Investments |
| 1 | Sequoia Capital China | Meituan, Jiuxian |
| 2 | IDG Capital Partners | VANCL, Mogujie |
| 3 | East Ventures | Mercari, Bilna |
| 3 | SAIF Partners | Womai, VANCL |
| 3 | Tiger Global Management | Kuadi Dache, Flipkart |
| 6 | Accel Partners | Flipkart, Myntra |
| 6 | Matrix Partners China | metao, Edaixi |
| 8 | CyberAgent Ventures | aCommerce, Kabuku |
| 9 | 500 Startups | Carousell, Smove |
| 10 | Tencent | Jingdong, Dianping |
| 10 | Lightspeed China Partners |
Tujia Online, Rong360 |