California-based Yami, an e-commerce marketplace that focuses on Asians in the US, has raised $50 million in a Series B round co-led by Balsam Bay Partners and California-based venture capital firm Altos Ventures.
Altos Ventures invests in American and Asian firms and is well-known for backing the South Korean e-commerce giant Coupang.
Other investors that participated in the latest round included JP Morgan and GGV Capital, which had led its $10 million Series A in July 2017. The series A round was joined by New York Stock Exchange-listed private cram school provider New Oriental, besides the Chinese venture capital firm K2VC.
GGV is an active investor in tech startups in Southeast Asia, backing businesses from Indonesian edtech company Ruangguru to Nasdaq-listed superapp Grab.
Yami launched in 2013 with the aim of offering East Asian products in the US, primarily to Asian Americans — the fastest-growing racial group in the country. The US 2020 census reported that the Asian population grew from 14.7 million in 2010 to 19.9 million in 2020.
The company claims to have two million customers so far, shopping for over 260,000 types of products from 4,000 brands ranging from snacks to skincare from brands like Shiseido, CJ Food, and Lotte.
In an interview with DealStreetAsia, Yami’s founder Alex Zhou said the fresh funds will be used to distribute more Southeast Asian products, and speed up delivery by opening a second warehouse in the US in New Jersey.
