Friday 29 Mar 2024
By
main news image

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on July 17, 2019

KUALA LUMPUR: AirAsia Group Bhd’s cargo and logistics arm Teleport, formerly known as RedCargo Logistics, and venture capital firm Gobi Partners are investing a total of US$10.6 million (RM43.57 million) in regional e-commerce and parcel delivery player, EasyParcel.

From the partnership, EasyParcel will be leveraging the logistics and infrastructure capabilities of Teleport, whose network spans over 100 cities, and AirAsia’s 10,000 flights per week, with some one million tonnes of cargo capacity.

“I’ve always believed AirAsia’s logistics business has a huge opportunity to be part of the social and e-commerce ecosystem,” said AirAsia Group chief executive officer (CEO) Tan Sri Tony Fernandes during the partnership announcement yesterday.

“Today, we are unlocking that potential with EasyParcel’s help, making parcel delivery across Asean more accessible and inclusive for everyone,” he added, noting this partnership is a “natural synergy”.

Also present was Teleport CEO Pete Chareonwongsak, saying Teleport will transform the logistics and e-commerce ecosystem.

“With our deep operational expertise, this investment will allow us to accelerate the accessibility of logistics for SMEs (small and medium enterprises), at the same time encourage more collaborations with the region’s logistics start-up community.

“We are really impressed by what [EasyParcel founder and CEO] Clarence [Leong] and the EasyParcel team have built and look forward to working with them to grow [the] social and e-commerce [ecosystem] across the region,” said Chareonwongsak.

Chareonwongsak also said the partnership is expected to raise the utilisation of Teleport’s available cargo space by at least 5%, which should increase the company’s top line by about 33%. Currently, some 15% of the available cargo space has been utilised, he said.

This year, Teleport is expecting to chalk up about RM400 million in revenue, and Chareonwongsak is anticipating its top-line figure to double in 12 months.

“The funding from Teleport and Gobi Partners is key to strengthening our footprint in existing markets,” said Leong.

Currently, EasyParcel has a footprint in Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia. The company is seeking to expand in other parts of Southeast Asia as well.

Leong said EasyParcel delivered eight million parcels last year, 80% of which was for the domestic market.

AirAsia shares closed one sen lower at RM2.91, for a market capitalisation of RM9.73 billion.

      Print
      Text Size
      Share