Packworks, a Philippines-based provider of a mobile enterprise resource planning (ERP) platform, raised US$2M in Seed funding.
The round was led by Fast Group and CVC Capital Partners, with participation from ADB Ventures, Arise, Techstars, and IdeaSpace Foundation.
The company intends to use the funds to develop The Pack: SuperStore App, increase the breadth of offerings, and improve its user journey. It also plans to build a department that directly engages the sari-sari stores and provide additional services with partners, and build an open platform for financial institutions and brands to connect directly with store owners.
Founded in 2018 and led by Bing Tan, CEO, Packworks provides a business-to-business (B2B) platform that allows sari-sari store owners to become more efficient in managing their business. Started as a solution for multinational companies in the Philippines to connect with neighborhood stores, the platform has now transformed into a way out of poverty for the millions of sari-sari store owners across the Philippines.
Packworks has a 150,000 network nationwide and is targeting to have 220,000 stores by the end of 2022 and 500,000 by end of 2023.
FinSMEs
28/07/2022
28 July
Packworks aims to become a platform for other institutions that would like to help the base of the pyramid by addressing the sari-sari store challenge by enabling the value chain and empowering all the involved parties within the sari-sari ecosystem.
“We think of ourselves as the railway or expressway infrastructure and not as the gas station or fast food shop operator. We expand partnerships to provide these services to our stores, such as inventory financing, e-payments, and micro-insurance,” Bernardo said.
The Sari-preneurs Companion
Through The Pack: SuperStore App, store owners can process their business’ inventory, bookkeeping, and data collection. They can also avail of financial products and order supplies for a cheaper price without the hassle of coordinating and purchasing new stocks.
The app is easy to use with low bandwidth and light footprint that will allow the users to process their businesses more efficiently with the goal of addressing the high cost of poverty, where store owners pay the highest interest rates and pay more for consumer goods.
It also aims to bring down the interest cost and in handling money through access to e-payments.
Started as a motorcycle journey in bringing solar panels to isolated communities, founders Hubert Yap, Bing Tan, and Ibba Bernardo came up with the idea of helping micro-entrepreneurs by bringing scalable and accessible technology to them.
Witnessing firsthand the challenges brought by limited access to sari-sari store owners, especially in far-flung places, they promised to share their technical know-how and inspire them to shift from analog processes to using technology.
“We observed that these stores have a hard time tracking their inventories and getting supplies for their stores, especially the ones in the provinces. That’s when the idea of making a one-stop app for everything pops out,” Tan said.