• The core focus for the next three months is Ireland, United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore, UAE, South Africa, Philippines, Malaysia, India, Israel, Nigeria, Egypt, Kenya, Saudi Arabia and Sri Lanka.
• The marketplace to take on Amazon and Noon in the Middle East.
• UAE and Saudi Arabia are emerging markets and offer new growth opportunities for sellers and customers, CEO says.

OnBuy.com, the world’s fastest-growing marketplace, is looking to raise £25 million in “Series B” funding round as it plans a massive expansion into newer markets in the next three months, including the Middle East.

Cas Paton, CEO of OnBuy, told TechChannel News that its core focus for the next three months is Ireland, United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore, UAE, South Africa, Philippines, Malaysia, India, Israel, Nigeria, Egypt, Kenya, Saudi Arabia and Sri Lanka.

The UAE and Saudi Arabia are emerging markets and offer new growth opportunities for sellers and customers, he said and added that the markets are set to grow further and neither of the Amazon or Noon is truly global.

“Take a look at Amazon and the growth rate of Middle East markets, there is enormous opportunity to enter the ecosystem and become a fair platform for consumers and sellers,” he said.

The startup has raised a total of more than £8m in funding, including the Series ‘A’ funding round of £5m from leading London-based VC firm Fuel Ventures and other experienced investors including Nathalie Gaveau, the co-founder of Priceminister, a premium French marketplace later acquired by Rakuten.

Paton said that 2021 has started on a record note and it has seen an 800 per cent year-on-year growth so far in January, beating last year’s sales figures in the first three days of the year.

In 2020, the marketplace has seen a growth of more than 605 per cent, with sales soaring from a run rate of £24 million to over £200 million and monthly users trending at just under seven million.

Patson said that OnBuy is quickly gaining market share and Danish consumer review website – Trustpilot.com – has rated OnBuy as UK’s most trusted online marketplace with 4.6/5 across 20,000 reviews. 

Amazon.co.uk is rated at just 2/5 stars on Trustpilot, and eBay.co.uk at 1.7/5.

It also rose 37 places in BusinessCloud’s 100 eCommerce Trailblazers ranking in at second spot in the fourth quarter of last year.

Putting autonomy into buyers’ hands

The company is on a mission to spread wings into more than 140 countries by end of 2023 and achieve over £1 billion in Gross Merchandise Volume by 2023.

“We did a tremendous growth in our home country as our model is efficient and gaining traction. We plan to replicate the same success in the GCC and we can win new customers. Winning new customers and keeping them is easy rather than shifting a customer from an existing platform,” Patson said.

Moreover, he said that a lot of e-commerce players do not put autonomy into the buyers’ hands and consumers don’t have a bargain of choice.

The platform is aiming to achieve one per cent of the $3.46 trillion global e-commerce market, equating to $35 billion, in the next five years.

Patson said that they are committed to bringing transparency into the marketplace and add more value to its customers.

The marketplace has now set its sights on unicorn status, which is awarded to privately held start-up firms valued at over $1 billion (£750 million), within the next two years.

OnBuy is already valued at an estimated £180 million ($240 million) after launching only four years ago compared to £6.5 million in January 2020.