Our Southeast Asia team have advised e-commerce aggregator Rainforest on its recently completed seed funding round. The round was led by Nordstar with Insignia Ventures Partners also participating. The round includes $6.5 million in equity financing and a $30 million venture debt component from an undisclosed American debt fund.

Rainforest was founded in January 2021 by JJ Chai, Jason Tan and Per-Ola Röst. The founders are alumni of some of Southeast Asia’s top startups including Carousell and Fave (who have also been our clients).

Rainforest acquires direct to consumer (DTC) e-commerce brands who sell through Amazon marketplace. It is focused on ‘rolling up’ APAC-based microbrands and has acquired three brands so far. The funding will be used to add more brands sold through Amazon’s B2B service Fulfilled By Amazon (FBA) to Rainforest’s portfolio.

Partner Lee Bagshaw says of the deal, “It was a pleasure to help Rainforest with their seed funding round. The team’s previous experience in rapidly scaling digital companies is second to none and we look forward to seeing Rainforest’s progress having raised sizable funding.”

Read our other recent deal announcements here.