CDP Institute

China-based e-commerce giant Alibaba Group discussed raising at least $1 billion for its Southeast Asian arm Lazada before calling off negotiations with potential investors when talks bogged down over Lazada’s valuation, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday, quoting people familiar with the matter.

Philippines’s fintech and online payments company PayMongo has secured US$31m in funding from their series B funding, which they aim to serve local SMEs more. Said investment round participants include Justin Mateen’s JAM Fund, Philippine VC firms ICCP-SBI Venture Partners and Lisa Gokongwei’s Kaya Founders, together with existing investors Global Founders Capital and SOMA Capital.

Shopee, Sea Limited‘s e-commerce behemoth based in Singapore, reported a 600% leap in the number of local sellers in Brazil – today, Shopee has more than 1 million Brazilian sellers registered in its marketplace. This means that more than 85% of Shopee’s sales in the country are local. Shopee’s strategy of investing in local sellers is justified: to remain competitive and grow in Latin America, more and more international platforms are betting on a hybrid strategy that combines the operational efficiencies of a global brand with local sellers, such as Amazon and AliExpress.

Latin America’s largest eCommerce ecosystem uses Vue.ai in their vendor onboarding processes to assess images faster and more accurately. 88% of shoppers think product images are crucial for making a purchase decision. Marketplaces and brands understand this and have invested a significant amount of resources in ensuring product images have clarity and create internal guidelines to secure quality. Every single image that a marketplace onboards needs checking to ensure guideline adherence and product credibility.