A Cambodia Tech startup founded by three young Cambodian entrepreneurs has received financial backing from an angel investor. Jalat Logistics says IG International Group (IGG) “decided to support one of the first Angkor500 graduates by fully funding their pre-seeding ask, at significant six digits valuation.” It wouldn’t disclose the exact figure but said it was “far above” the lower range of $100,000.
Jalat Logistics claims to provide the most affordable half-day delivery service in Phnom Penh and an all-in-one logistical portal for parcel senders and recipients. It uses Artificial Intelligence to connect parcel centres, drivers and customers. Jalat says its technology allows drivers to carry twice as many parcels over a shorter distance at a faster pace. The company said in July it had seen 63 percent average monthly growth in the number of deliveries while profits had more than doubled since it started business this year. It plans to work with IGG to further develop its software, hardware and internet of things.
Jalat was one of the companies selected to pitch its startup idea to angel investors by Angkor500, an initiative between San Francisco-based venture capital firm 500 Startups and government-run Khmer Enterprise.
IGG is a Phnom Penh based startups, innovations, transformations and trading conglomerate.
“In a spirit of making Cambodia the trading, technology and business hub of Southeast-Asia, which is part of IGG’s vision, we decided to embrace an angel investments methodology and to invest into early stage startups in the Kingdom,” said IGG chairman, Puthkiry Kim. “We could not be prouder that our first investment in this new approach is to Jalat, which we believe is on the verge of positive transformation of the logistics industry in Cambodia,” Kim said.
Jalat’s founders issued a joint statement saying: “Partnership with IGG is giving us hope for startup industry in Cambodia seeing we can get support from established institutions even this early on. We have large vision and now we can not only deliver this, but also be a part of [the] bigger picture that is being worked on across other IGG companies and projects. We are happy to learn and grow among industry leaders while we are bringing Jalat to new heights.”
IGG’s Vice-President of Technology and Innovation Sophanak Chhor signed an investment term sheet, showing the terms and conditions of the investment, with Jalat founders, Sou Sethey, Sou Sreyphoung and Ung Lylay.
Jitka Markova, Program Lead for Angkor500, told the three they had already taken a huge step by graduating from the Angkor500 programme.
“Now, seeing all the hard work and dedication this soon after the program, by securing this investment you have shown that Cambodian startups are also among those to watch for,” she said.
This article was first published in Khmer Times. All contents and images are copyright to their respective owners and sources.
