Celebrating StoreHub's 10th Anniversary

Happy 10th Anniversary to StoreHub!

Our portfolio company StoreHub recently celebrated their 10th birthday with an intimate gathering of around 40 of their key partners, including investors, friends, merchants, and supporters. Congratulations to our founders Wai Hong, Congyu Li, and the StoreHub team!

StoreHub thanked their partners for joining them in their journey over the last decade and sharing their vision for the next. To commemorate this momentous occasion, we take a walk down memory lane and look back on our journey with StoreHub, celebrating their wins and achievements over the last decade.

About StoreHub

StoreHub is a leading operating system for retail and F&B businesses. Launched in 2013 in Malaysia, StoreHub has grown from a point-of-sale (POS) system provider to an omnichannel all-in-one ecosystem for Southeast Asian SMEs, with solutions ranging from QR-based table ordering, customer loyalty and engagement, and, of course, their cloud-based POS system.

They are currently present in over 15 countries; with a customer base of over 15,000 businesses on their platform.  Backed by 300+ employees around the region called ‘Hubbers', they are committed to their mission of empowering businesses, big or small, to achieve successful and sustainable growth through access to technology, driven by their belief in the importance of bringing the best technology to those who have traditionally been marginalized by it.

StoreHub and Vertex

Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia & India first led StoreHub’s US$5.1M Series A funding round back in 2018. StoreHub was founded  to help SMEs bridge the online-offline gap with their solutions, enabling  brick-and-mortar stores to get online.

We continued to support them in their next funding rounds. In 2022, StoreHub was processing over 128M transactions annually with a GTV of US$ 1.6B. To supercharge their growth, they expanded their team to over 200 employees.

Our Managing Partner, Joo Hock Chua shares Vertex’s vision for the company:

“Capitalising on its strength in tech and understanding what businesses need, StoreHub leads the industry in rolling out new innovations to enable businesses to increase their revenue and productivity. Their rapidly growing user base and high retention rate are strong indicators of the value in StoreHub’s platform. We’re excited to work with StoreHub to help businesses level up and stay relevant in this digital economy age.”

Heroes through COVID-19

Malaysia’s economy came to a halt during the COVID-19 pandemic. A two-week long partial lockdown was imposed in the nation, from 18th to 31st March 2020. StoreHub realized that this could potentially destroy billions of ringgit in revenue for Malaysia’s ~180,000 F&B businesses, putting many out of business. They quickly got to their feet and started developing a solution – a mere hour after the Prime Minister’s announcement.

StoreHub saw that food delivery services would be allowed to operate as usual, and realized an opportunity to save Malaysia’s F&B businesses. Working day and night, StoreHub launched Beep Delivery 48 hours after the lockdown announcement. They partnered with Malaysia’s top logistics providers to develop a platform that enabled businesses to run their own food delivery services. What’s more, Beep Delivery only charged a 2% transaction fee, easing the pinch felt by entrepreneurs as a result of  the 35% transaction fees charged by traditional food delivery services.

StoreHub’s creativity and agility allowed many consumers to access their favourite foods from the safety of their homes, and F&B businesses to continue operations during the lockdown. But most importantly, it allowed StoreHub to earn the trust and confidence of these businesses, cementing StoreHub and their platform as the leading choice among merchants.

ALSO WATCH: Wai Hong shares with e27 - How to manage remote teams

As investors, we are proud to have StoreHub in our portfolio as it scales to greater new heights while helping SMEs in this region.

"Congratulations to Wai Hong, Congyu, and the StoreHub team on their 10th anniversary! This is a momentous milestone for StoreHub and us. We're proud that StoreHub empowers SMEs in the retail and F&B sectors to navigate the competitive and unpredictable market landscape. We believe the company will be an essential partner to every SME in the next decade to come!" - Chua Joo Hock, Managing Partner at Vertex Ventures SEA & India.

Prepared by Danesh Dabu.

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