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edamama Announces Series A+ Round and Welcomes E-Commerce and Retail Executives to Leadership Team
This latest funding round brings edamama's total funding raised since the platform’s launch to over US$35 million.
Manila, Philippines - November 21, 2023 - edamama, the Philippines' leading online-to-offline (O2O) parenting platform, announced the recent completion of its Series A+ funding round. The round was led by the Ayala Corporation Technology Innovation Venture (ACTIVE) Fund, the largest venture capital fund in the Philippines, managed by Kickstart Ventures and backed by Ayala Corporation (AC) and its subsidiaries. AC is one of the country's leading conglomerates, with an extensive retail and consumer footprint. Existing investors Kickstart Ventures, Gentree Fund, and Innoven Capital also participated in the round, alongside new investor GS Group, a leading South Korean conglomerate and retail giant. This latest financing brings edamama's total funding raised since the platform’s launch to over US$35 million.
Nishant D’Souza, Co-Founder of edamama, commented, "We are excited to strengthen our collaboration with the Ayala ecosystem with this strategic investment from ACTIVE Fund, especially to unlock further synergies across the Ayala Malls network as we expand our physical stores nationwide next year. We are immensely grateful for the continued trust from our repeat investors, and are honored to welcome our new partners, GS Group, with their first direct investment in the Philippines. This funding will accelerate our offline roll-out and private label product development, providing even more value and accessibility to our customers wherever they choose to be - online or offline."
“We are inspired by the potential for the edamama platform to empower more Filipino parents and families. Building on our outstanding partnership with edamama through Kickstart’s initial investment in 2021, we are delighted to continue supporting edamama via Ayala Corporation’s ACTIVE Fund to help bring about a frictionless future where affordable, qual,ity products are made easily available to more Filipino families. With this recent funding round, we are also thrilled to welcome Korea’s GS Group to the edamama cap table. Their experience and strategic insights make a significant and valuable addition to the growth of edamama,” commented Minette Navarrete of ACTIVE Fund.
Along with the funding news, edamama is pleased to announce the addition of four seasoned ecommerce and retail professionals to its board and leadership team. These pivotal appointments are a testament to the company’s commitment to enhancing its capabilities and delivering exceptional value to its customers:
(edamama’s leadership team from left to right: Chief Commercial Officer: Rohan Aggarwal, Co-Founder: Nishant D’Souza, Offline Retail Director: Donna Manalastas, Co-Founder: Bela Gupta D’Souza, and Senior Commercial Director: Rachit Gupta)
Miguel Fernandez, Board Member
Miguel Fernandez joins edamama's Board of Directors to provide strategic P&L guidance, leveraging over two decades of finance and operations management experience with ecommerce giants such as Coupang, Amazon, and Dell. Miguel is currently Group Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Carsome, a regional automotive marketplace, and was formerly Group CFO of Philippine fintech unicorn Maya. Prior to this, Miguel was CFO of the largest subsidiary of Coupang, South Korea’s leading ecommerce platform, and had previously launched Amazon’s operations in emerging markets including Brazil and India.
Rohan Aggarwal, Chief Commercial Officer
Rohan Aggarwal joins edamama as Chief Commercial Officer to oversee the venture’s online business and solidify its position as a vertical leader. Most recently, Rohan was Director of the multibillion-dollar Mobiles business at Flipkart, India’s largest ecommerce platform. Rohan also brings a wealth of prior commercial and operations management experience with Indian direct-to-consumer (D2C) and ecommerce unicorns Licious and Snapdeal, respectively.
Rachit Gupta, Senior Commercial Director
Rachit Gupta has been appointed as Senior Commercial Director to sustainably grow edamama’s revenue, merchandising and seller operations. Rachit brings deep domain and leadership experience in the parenting commerce space, having previously scaled baby and related category P&Ls at leading regional platforms such as Flipkart and Snapdeal. Additionally, Rachit has valuable early stage entrepreneurship expertise spanning D2C and ecommerce services sectors.
Donna Manalastas, Offline Retail Director
Donna Manalastas steps into the role of Offline Retail Director to oversee edamama’s offline business, building on her broad expertise with setting up and profitably scaling LVMH’s Benefit Cosmetics in the Philippines as Brand General Manager. Focused on expanding edamama's physical retail presence throughout the country, Donna’s addition to edamama’s management team further boosts the proportion of women in leadership roles at the company, which already stood at over 70%.
"We are thrilled to welcome Miguel, Rohan, Rachit and Donna to edamama’s leadership team," said Bela Gupta D’Souza, Co-Founder of edamama. "We have made great strides in scaling our operations while improving unit economics over this past year. These appointments will further bolster our goal of delivering an industry-leading experience for parents in both the digital and physical retail worlds. With such world-class talent on board, we could not be more pumped for our future."
Following successful pop-up store pilots in Ayala Glorietta and SM Southmall, edamama recently opened two permanent physical stores in Robinsons Magnolia and Robinsons Manila malls, with another store slated for opening before year-end at Ayala Vertis North. The funds raised in this round will be used to profitably scale the company's offline retail presence across the Philippines and further develop edamama's portfolio of private label and exclusive brands, which has seen a quadrupling in category share over the past year.
Stay connected with edamama on our social media platforms and download our app:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/edamama.ph
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/edamama.ph
About edamama
edamama is the Philippines' premier digital-first parenting platform, dedicated to providing essential resources, products, and community support to parents. edamama’s mission is to empower parents and caregivers by offering a wide range of curated products and services that cater to the unique needs of families. With a commitment to quality, innovation, and customer satisfaction, edamama seeks to be the trusted partner of parents by helping them simplify decision-making and find everyday joy in raising a family. Since its launch in 2020, the platform has delivered about 4 million products to Filipino families across the country.
About ACTIVE Fund
The Ayala Corporation Technology Innovation Venture Fund (ACTIVE Fund) is the largest venture capital fund to come out of the Philippines. The fund is backed by Ayala Corporation, the first business house in the Philippines, along with its subsidiaries AC Energy, AC Industrials, AC Ventures, Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI), and Globe Telecom. The fund is a concrete expression of Ayala Corporation’s commitment to new sectors, emerging trends, and innovative businesses that the group believes in.
