{"id":42612,"date":"2023-10-20T15:22:28","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:22:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/shopandbox-says-going-global-from-day-one-paid-off-as-it-closes-1-million-seed-round-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T15:22:28","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:22:28","slug":"shopandbox-says-going-global-from-day-one-paid-off-as-it-closes-1-million-seed-round-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/shopandbox-says-going-global-from-day-one-paid-off-as-it-closes-1-million-seed-round-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"ShopandBox says going global from day one paid off as it closes $1 million seed round – StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Australian investors need to be more open to startups that look globally from the outset rather than focusing on those that test the waters locally first, ShopandBox founder Xin-lung Tai says.<\/p>\n

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The online personal shopping platform has just closed a $1 million seed round led by VC fund 500 Startups and a group of angel investors from CMY Ventures and Waic Investments.<\/p>\n

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But Tai says they first looked within Australia and found investors that were unwilling to back an idea that was looking internationally in the early days rather than just eyeing Australia.<\/p>\n

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\u201cA lot of the more conservative local Australian VCs and funds didn\u2019t like the fact that we went global so quickly from day one as opposed to cornering a market first then growing it regionally, and then nationally,\u201d Tai tells StartupSmart.<\/i><\/p>\n

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\u201cThat made us look around and try to find someone that really understood the global game we\u2019re trying to play from day one.\u201d<\/p>\n

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That\u2019s when the leading global VC fund entered the picture.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWhen we spoke with 500 Startups they got it immediately,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThey said we were like a mirror image of how they run their operations.\u201d<\/p>\n

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After two meetings and a five-hour Skype conversation, the investment was closed.<\/p>\n

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Shopping like a local anywhere<\/b><\/p>\n


<\/b><\/p>\n

ShopandBox is a personalised peer-to-peer shopping service that allows users to shop \u201clike a local for anything they want\u201d, avoiding large price discrepancies and accessing products that may be unavailable in their own country.<\/p>\n

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The startup launched in Melbourne 2013 and has now seen 95,000 items ordered through the platform from 146 countries, and boasts a pool of 70 personal shoppers in 20 countries.<\/p>\n

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The large cash injection will be used to grow the startup in its popular markets – mainly Australia and south-east Asia \u2013 and look to accelerate expansions into new regions.<\/p>\n

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It was because ShopandBox looked globally from the beginning that it was able to pinpoint these hotspots, and Tai says more Aussie entrepreneurs need to look to do the same.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe general school of thought has been to start local and prove the business, and then grow it slowly from there,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

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\u201cBut we grew big from day one to get that blanket coverage, then worked backwards to saturate our most popular markets.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Plans for the future<\/b> <\/p>\n

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He says the huge majority of ShopandBox\u2019s growth has been organic, and the new funding will allow the startup to focus its marketing efforts.<\/p>\n

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\u201cNow we know where the demand is quite clearly, and most of it has been organic so now we can saturate those markets with a paid marketing arsenal,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe\u2019ve proven that there is a demand out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

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There\u2019s also a whole other target audience that is usually ignored that the startup wants to target: regional Australia.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWhether you\u2019re a shopper in regional Australia or a shopper in a big city, the cost to ship items is exactly the same,\u201d Tai says.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThere\u2019s a big untapped market out there, and these people would appreciate being on a level playing field.\u201d<\/p>\n

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With $1 million to spend and backing from one of the biggest funds in the world, the future looks bright for the Melbourne-based startup.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe\u2019re connecting people via our platform on opposite ends of the world,\u201d Tai says.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe know what we have to do, now it\u2019s about going out and doing it.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Do you know more on this story or have a tip of your own? Raising capital or launching a startup? Let us know. Follow StartupSmart on<\/i> Facebook<\/i>,<\/i> Twitter<\/i>, and<\/i> LinkedIn<\/i>.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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