Daraz

Daraz is an online marketplace and logistics company which operates in markets of South Asia and Southeast Asia. It was founded in 2012 as an online fashion e-commerce marketplace in Pakistan by Muneeb Maayr (Founder) & Farees Shah (Co-Founder) at the based venture builder, Rocket Internet. Daraz Group operates e-commerce platforms and logistics service in Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Bjarke Mikkelsen is the current CEO of Daraz. In May 2018, Daraz Group was acquired by the Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba Group from Rocket Internet.
History.
Daraz was founded as an online fashion retailer in Pakistan in 2012 by Muneeb Maayr (Founder) & Farees Shah (Co-Founder) while Muneeb Maayr was working at Rocket Internet. Daraz's initial funding and work came from Rocket Internet but was later changed to a general marketplace strategy and business model in 2015 when it also launched operations in Bangladesh and Myanmar.
Funding.
In September 2017, Daraz secured 50 million euros in its Series B funding in order to expand operations in Bangladesh, Myanmar and Pakistan. CDC Group, a state-owned Development Finance Institution (DFI) in the UK, invested €20 million alongside a €30 million investment from Daraz's existing majority shareholder, Asia Internet Holdings.
Acquisition.
In July 2016, Daraz Group acquired Kaymu, a consumer-to-consumer online marketplace in South Asia. With this acquisition it began operations in Nepal and Sri Lanka.
In May 2018, Daraz Group announced that it had been acquired by Alibaba Group for an undisclosed amount. This was two years after Alibaba's acquisition of Lazada Group, which was also a startup by Rocket Internet in the South-East Asian market. Alibaba Group also runs Singapore's Redmart, and owns stakes in Japan's Rakuten and Indonesia's Tokopedia.
Daraz Group's five markets (Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka) cover more than 460 million people, of whom 60% are under the age of 35. In order to digitize the logistics ecosystem and to improve the delivery standards, Daraz has built its own logistics company, Daraz Express (DEX), in all five markets.
Daraz 11.11.
On 11th of November 2018 the - 11.11 also known as Singles' Day was introduced as an event, when Alibaba, Daraz’s parent-company, positioned it as Asia’s answer to Black Friday. In November 2018 Alibaba's 11.11 sale was ready to make the journey to South-east Asia that included Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal & Myanmar, thus - setting the trend for 11.11 Sale in South-east Asia.