The Silicon Review ^Asia

Alibaba has acquired Rocket Internet SE-backed online retailer, Daraz. This move marks the expansion of its e-commerce business to Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Nepal. This is the second time that the Chinese internet giant is buying a Rocket company, the first one being Lazada in Southeast Asia two years ago. The financial terms of the deal are not disclosed, and the acquisition will make Daraz a wholly owned unit of Alibaba.

Alibaba has expanded its e-commerce empire into South Asia after the Chinese internet giant acquired Daraz in an undisclosed deal. “We are excited for Daraz to become a part of the Alibaba ecosystem”, said Alibaba CEO Daniel Zhang. “Together with Daraz, we can now empower entrepreneurs to better serve consumers in the region through our technology and expertise.”

Since its inception in 2012, Daraz has grown into an e-commerce company with around 30,000 sellers, 500 brands, 2 million products and a customer base of 5 million. The company believes that after merging with Alibaba, it will be able to better serve its customers with better products and convenience. Daraz Co-CEO, Bjarke Mikkelsen said, “With hard work and dedication, we have started the e-commerce journey in our markets, but we have still only scratched the surface of the potential.” Additionally, Alibaba is also planning to deepen its reach into South Asia by buying a 20 percent chunk of payment firm, bKash.