KUALA LUMPUR (July 16): 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 (RM43.54 million) in regional e-commerce and parcel delivery player, EasyParcel.
From this partnership, EasyParcel will be leveraging Teleport's logistics and infrastructure capabilities, which include more than 100 cities, 10,000 AirAsia flights per week and some 1 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.
"Today, we are unlocking that potential with the help of EasyParcel, making parcel delivery across Asean more accessible and inclusive for everyone," he added, noting this partnership as "natural synergy".
Teleport CEO Pete Chareonwongsak said 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, while at the same time encourage more collaboration 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 social and e-commerce 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 topline 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 topline figure to double in the next 12 months.
"The funding received from Teleport and Gobi Partners is key to strengthening our footprint in those existing markets," said Leong.
Presently, EasyParcel has set its footprint in four countries, namely Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia. The company is also seeking to expand its presence in other parts of Southeast Asia.
Leong noted that EasyParcel delivered 8 million parcels last year, and 80% of them are in the domestic market.
At 12.09pm today, AirAsia shares were flat at RM2.92 for a market capitalisation of RM9.76 billion.