When ShopUp launched in 2016, it identified a specific niche: helping small businesses selling through Facebook—known as f-commerce entrepreneurs—overcome fundamental operational challenges. The startup provided tools that automated order management, streamlined promotion, and facilitated delivery for these merchants, all through clever integration with Facebook Messenger.
For these early customers, ShopUp's solution was comprehensive. It allowed merchants without credit cards to manage orders, process payments, optimize content and packaging, and handle shop management. As the business matured, ShopUp expanded into logistics—first through partnerships and eventually establishing its own logistics company, REDX.
Financial access became another pillar of ShopUp's service offering. By developing credit scoring tools and collaborating with microcredit institutions—including a brief partnership with BRAC—ShopUp connected small businesses with much-needed capital.
This evolutionary path led ShopUp to transform into a full-stack B2B commerce platform. The company now enables small businesses to order supplies while integrating logistics and credit services—a journey fueled by investments from prominent global venture capital firms, despite encountering successes and setbacks.
On April 9th, ShopUp announced a strategic merger with Sary, a Gulf-region B2B marketplace. This union created SILQ Group, a cross-regional B2B commerce platform targeting markets across the Gulf and emerging Asia. The merger came with substantial financial backing: $110 million in funding led by Sanabil Investments (a wholly owned subsidiary of Saudi Arabia's $925 billion Public Investment Fund) and Peter Thiel's Valar Ventures.
We have written about ShopUp before. This report chronicles ShopUp's key developments chronologically, from its inception through this recent merger, highlighting the pivotal milestones that shaped its fascinating trajectory.
The idea for ShopUp began to take shape in 2016 when ShopUp co-founder and CEO Afeef Zaman observed the operational challenges small businesses face in Bangladesh. During his visits to his grandparents' village, known for its pottery cluster, he saw the difficulties these small producers encountered in scaling their businesses and competing with larger entities that had superior distribution capabilities.
This first-hand exposure to the challenges of sourcing, logistics, and financing for small enterprises laid the groundwork for ShopUp's future offerings.
The company was formally founded in 2017 in Dhaka, Bangladesh, by Afeef Zaman (CEO), and Ataur Rahim Chowdhury (CPO). ShopUp's initial team also included Siffat Sarwar as a co-founder and COO. Sujayath Ali (Co-founder, COO & CBO), and Navaneetha Krishnan (Co-founder and CTO) joined the company as co-founders when ShopUp acquired India’s Voonik.
The company started with the ambition to empower MSMEs across Bangladesh by leveraging technology to overcome the fundamental obstacles hindering their growth, specifically in the areas of efficient sourcing, seamless logistics, and affordable financing.
From 2017 to 2018, ShopUp targeted the Facebook-based commerce (f-commerce) sector in Bangladesh. Recognizing the significant number of small businesses utilizing Facebook as their primary sales channel, ShopUp tailored its initial services to meet their immediate operational requirements.
These early offerings included product cataloging, facilitating business transactions directly through Facebook Messenger, managing orders efficiently, and coordinating delivery.
Additionally, ShopUp focused on addressing the challenge of limited access to capital often faced by these emerging businesses.
To streamline operations, ShopUp integrated its platform with Facebook Messenger, enabling sellers to automate sales processes, monitor growth trends, manage inventory effectively, and enhance customer engagement. Understanding the logistical hurdles faced by small Facebook shop owners, ShopUp also forged partnerships with logistics providers to ensure reliable and efficient delivery services.
Furthermore, ShopUp began developing tools to connect these businesses with financial institutions and microcredit organizations, utilizing its own credit scoring mechanisms to facilitate access to much-needed capital.
This initial focus on the f-commerce ecosystem allowed ShopUp to establish a strong early presence and gain valuable insights into the specific needs and challenges of small retailers in Bangladesh.
ShopUp experienced significant early growth, marked by crucial funding milestones and the strategic expansion of its service offerings.
The company officially registered in 2018. The same year it entered into a partnership with BRAC to launch embedded finance solutions.
In November 2018, the company completed a seed funding round of $1.6 million, led by Flourish and Omidyar Network. The funding round also included a grant from UK AID, highlighting the potential for social impact inherent in ShopUp's business model.
Building on this momentum, ShopUp continued to attract investor interest. In April 2019, the company was selected to be part of the Surge 01 cohort, an accelerator program by Sequoia Capital India, raising an additional investment of $1.5 million, along with invaluable mentorship and access to a network of experienced entrepreneurs and investors.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation joined ShopUp as a partner during this period, underscoring the company's growing recognition and potential.
This involvement with Surge provided ShopUp with critical resources and guidance to refine its strategy and accelerate its growth trajectory.
ShopUp launched its core platforms during this period.
In December 2019, the company officially launched Mokam, its B2B commerce platform, designed as a wholesale marketplace to simplify the inventory procurement process for neighborhood stores.
In March 2020, the company launched REDX, its logistics service. REDX provided crucial last-mile delivery solutions at a time when traditional logistics networks were facing significant disruptions. By early 2022, REDX had grown to over 250 delivery points across 493 sub-districts in 64 districts, establishing itself as one of the largest logistics firms in the country.
Further strengthening its full-stack approach, ShopUp introduced Baki, its working capital financing service, in April 2020. Integrated directly into the Mokam platform, Baki allowed small business owners to purchase inventory on credit with a seamless in-app application process. This embedded finance solution directly addressed the critical need for working capital within the SME sector, facilitating smoother transactions and enabling businesses to manage their cash flow more effectively.
In February 2020, ShopUp acquired the B2B business and technology platform of Voonik, an Indian fashion e-commerce startup, in a strategic move to enhance its capabilities and expand its reach. As part of this acquisition, Sujayath Ali, a co-founder of Voonik, joined ShopUp as a Co-founder, taking on the role of COO & CBO. This acquisition brought valuable technology assets and experienced talent to ShopUp, further bolstering its position in the B2B e-commerce space. Additionally, ShopUp expanded its physical presence by launching its Bengaluru office in February 2020.
Between 2021 and 2024, ShopUp experienced a period of rapid scaling and expansion enabled by significant funding rounds and the increasing evolution of its platform.
Following the pre-Series A funding in 2020, ShopUp announced a substantial $22.5 million Series A funding round in October 2020 co-led by Sequoia Capital India and Flourish Ventures, with participation from Veon Ventures, Speedinvest, and Lonsdale Capital. The round was the largest Series A funding secured by a Bangladeshi startup, bringing ShopUp's total funding to approximately $28 million.
The momentum continued into the following year. In September 2021, ShopUp successfully closed an even larger Series B funding round, raising $75 million. Some sources indicate the total raised in this round was $108 million, with total funding exceeding $110 million.
This round was led by Valar Ventures, with significant participation from investors including Tiger Global, Prosus, Sequoia Capital India, VEON Ventures, and Flourish Ventures.
This funding was the largest Series B investment ever raised by a B2B commerce platform in South Asia, underscoring the immense investor confidence in ShopUp's potential.
These substantial funding rounds provided ShopUp with the necessary capital to significantly scale its operations, improve its technological infrastructure, and further expand its reach across Bangladesh.
Geographically, ShopUp focused on expanding its presence across Bangladesh, targeting the vast network of approximately 4.5 million neighborhood mom-and-pop retail shops.
The company continued to expand its distribution hub network, reaching 427 micro-fulfillment hubs by May 2024. The company announced its plans to increase its distribution hub network to 700 locations by December 2025
To support its expansion and strengthen its supply chain operations, ShopUp secured $6.5 million in debt financing from Credit Saison on August 17, 2024, providing the company with additional capital to invest in growth.
On April 9, 2025, ShopUp announced its merger with Sary, a leading B2B platform in the Gulf region, operating in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Pakistan. The newly formed entity was named SILQ Group.
This strategic merger aims to create the largest cross-regional B2B commerce platform, targeting markets of the Gulf and emerging Asia.
The combined network of ShopUp and Sary claimed to have achieved significant scale, processing over $5 billion in transactions, facilitating over 100 million shipments, serving more than 600,000 retailers, and collectively disbursing over $750 million in embedded financing.
The merger was supported by a substantial $110 million funding round, led by Sanabil Investments, a wholly-owned company of Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF), and Peter Thiel's Valar Ventures. Other notable investors in this round included Flourish Ventures, Kuwait's Wafra, and Qatar's Qatar Development Bank.
Under the new structure, ShopUp's founder, Afeef Zaman, assumed the role of CEO of SILQ Group, while Sary's founder, Mohammed Aldossary, became the CEO of SILQ Financial. ShopUp's co-founder, Ataur Rahim Chowdhury, took on the responsibility of CEO for ShopUp (Bangladesh).
Operationally, both the ShopUp and Sary brands would continue to operate in their respective geographical markets, leveraging the shared infrastructure and combined capabilities of SILQ Group.
SILQ Financial was tasked with developing a robust financial infrastructure and scaling the embedded financing and Point-of-Sales (POS) businesses across the group's markets.
2017: ShopUp formally founded in Dhaka
October 2017: Participates in an accelerator/incubator program, raising $552K
February 2018: ShopUp's operations "take off" according to company timeline
May 2018: Receives an undisclosed grant
2018: Partners with BRAC as Bangladesh's first Embedded Finance offering startup
November 2018: Completes seed funding round of $1.6 million led by Flourish and Omidyar Network
April 2019: Joins Sequoia Capital India's Surge 01 cohort with $1.5 million investment; Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation becomes a partner
December 2019: Launches Mokam, a B2B commerce platform for neighborhood stores
January 2020: Named "Best Startup of the Year"
February 2020: Acquires Voonik's B2B business and technology platform; launches Bengaluru office
March 2020: Launches REDX, a logistics service for small businesses
April 2020: Introduces Baki, working capital financing service; closes $3.2M pre-Series A round led by Sequoia, Surge, and Flourish
October 2020: Raises $22.5 million Series A funding co-led by Sequoia Capital India and Flourish Ventures
September 2021: Closes Series B round of $75-108 million led by Valar Ventures, with participation from Tiger Global, Prosus, and others
February 2022: REDX expands to 250+ delivery points across 493 sub-districts in all 64 districts of Bangladesh
March 2023: Named on Fast Company's list of World's Most Innovative Companies, ranking #3 in Asia-Pacific
March 2024: Tech and Innovation Center in Bangalore, India officially inaugurated
May 2024: Announces plans to expand distribution hub network to 700 locations by December 2025
August 2024: Secures $6.5 million in debt financing from Credit Saison
April 2025: Merges with Sary to form SILQ Group, backed by a $110 million funding round led by Sanabil Investments and Valar Ventures
| Date | Round | Amount | Investors |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 2017 | Accelerator/Incubator-muru-D | $552K | muru-D |
| May 2018 | Grant | Not Specified | Not Specified |
| Nov 2018 | Seed | $1.6Mn | Flourish, Omidyar Network |
| Apr 2019 | Surge 01 Cohort | $1.5Mn | Sequoia Capital India |
| Apr 2020 | Pre-Series A | $3.2M | Sequoia, Surge, Flourish |
| Oct 2020 | Series A | $22.5M | Sequoia Capital India, Flourish Ventures |
| Sep 2021 | Series B | $75-108M | Valar Ventures, Tiger Global, Prosus |
| Aug 2024 | Debt Financing | $6.5M | Credit Saison |
| Apr 2025 | SILQ Merger | $110M | Sanabil Investments, Valar Ventures |
ShopUp's journey highlights several key critical factors for technology platforms in emerging markets.
First, the company identified and addressed fundamental infrastructure gaps limiting small businesses' growth potential.
Second, it built a comprehensive ecosystem through closely integrated services rather than pursuing siloed solutions.
Third, it secured strategic funding from investors with experience in similar markets, enabling rapid scaling while maintaining focus on long-term profitability.
As SILQ Group seeks to replicate this success across the Gulf and emerging Asia, it offers a case study of how technology platforms can organize traditionally fragmented retail ecosystems while creating substantial value for small merchants, suppliers, and investors alike.
