Alibaba announces Daraz acquisition

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group has expanded into South Asia by buying Daraz Group. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

“We are excited for Daraz to become a part of the Alibaba ecosystem,” says Alibaba CEO, Daniel Zhang. “We can now empower entrepreneurs to better serve consumers in the region through our technology and expertise.”

Daraz was founded in 2012 by Rocket Internet and covers Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Nepal. It has 30,000 sellers and 500 brands on its e-commerce platform, with two million products available to its five million customers. Its product offerings stretch across consumer electronics, household goods, beauty, fashion, sports equipment and groceries. 

“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,” comments Daraz Co-CEO, Bjarke Mikkelsen.

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