We recently advised Rakuten Ventures on the US$35million series B investment in Carousell, the social commerce site operating in Southeast Asia. The deal is one of the largest ever series B deals to have been completed out of Singapore. Plus it is one of the biggest VC financing rounds in the region this year.

According to Techcrunch, the company has 35 million listings in total, and 70 new listings added per minute with active users spending 17 minutes on its app on average. Which is pretty impressive, but merely reflects the e-commerce boom, and desire for mobile technology in the region. Whilst there is a lot of competition, Carousell could become a significant c2c player in Southeast Asia and beyond. The company is also already looking at markets outside of the region given that its platform is not bound by geography.

Rakuten Ventures is the venture capital arm of Rakuten Group, the Japanese e-commerce giant. The US$200 million fund has invested globally, including across Southeast Asia, in Japan, Korea and the US.