Tinvio bags US$5.5M seed funding to make tedious business transactions easy for SMEs
Singapore-based communication and commerce platform Tinvio has secured US$5.5 million in seed investment from Sequoia Capital’s accelerator Surge, according to a company statement.
Other backers include Berlin-based VC Global Founders Capital and Silicon Valley-based investment platform Partech Partners. This brings Tinvio’s total raised to US$6.5 million.
The company plans to use its newly-raised capital for product development and market expansion, primarily focusing on Australia, Taiwan, and Southeast Asia (SEA).
“Our 12 months goal is to provide financial services to businesses and extend our market leadership in current cities and launch in more languages in different places,” said founder and CEO Ajay Gopal.
The startup that was launched last year by an ex-investment banker is on a mission to help small and mid-sized business owners keep track of their orders, accounts, and receivables in a more simple and efficient manner.
Most of the merchants in F&B, retail, and healthcare supply chains today still place orders over email, WhatsApp, or phone calls, while invoices and payments are exchanged mainly in paper form, he said.
“Tinvio’s frictionless chat-to-order mobile experience enables users to send messages and orders to their suppliers in just a few taps,”
The mobile app also creates digital ledgers of all orders, invoices, and issues for real-time monitoring and analysis, so that merchants can keep a track on all their orders.
Tinvio’s claims that its customer base has significantly grown to over a thousand businesses, with 50 per cent monthly user growth and 80 per cent cohort retention. Its platform is currently available in over ten cities from Hong Kong and Singapore, with plans to provide digital financial services to businesses.
During COVID-19, the commerce startup has stepped up its efforts by initiating a movement called “Save Our Nomnoms“ to help local F&B brands raise immediate awareness and enable direct discovery for their restaurants through their website.