March 23, 2022

KDDI Corporation

Through KDDI Open Innovation Fund III (operated by Global Brain Corporation; hereinafter "KOIF III"), which aims to incubate new business co-creations with promising venture startups, KDDI invested in iPrice Group Sdn Bhd, a company that provides an e-commerce price comparison platform (Headquarters: Malaysia; CEO: Paul Brown-Kenyon; hereinafter "iPrice").

As the e-commerce market develops, the competition among e-commerce platforms continues to intensify with more sellers entering the market in Southeast Asia. iPrice's role of helping users find the right platform and save money will continue to be vital to the region.

iPrice operates an e-commerce price comparison and coupon site that uses its proprietary machine-learning based algorithm in 7 markets, namely Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam and Hong Kong.

iPrice is on a mission to bring a greater level of transparency, convenience, and trust to consumers in SEA to help consumers save money. Instead of going through multiple marketplaces to find the best deal, users can instantly access more than seven (7) billion offers from more than (8) million sellers through the iPrice App and its website. Users can save money by comparing products, prices, sellers' reputation, and delivery conditions all in one place.

iPrice will also expand into the lending space, partnering with leading Buy Now Pay Later players in the region to provide an integrated user experience and a lending comparison option to find the best deals.

Through this investment, KDDI has access to a robust and data-rich consumer platform in Southeast Asia through which KDDI can better understand the consumer market potential of Southeast Asia and thereby develop new solutions and services for consumers in this region.

As "the company that customers feel closest to," KDDI will continue to promote business co-creation through investment in promising startup companies, and create new business models together with customers and partners.

(Reference)

• ■About iPrice Group Sdn Bhd

  • (1)

    Company name: iPrice Group Sdn Bhd

  • (2)

    Headquarters: Malaysia

  • (3)

    Founded: 2014

  • (4)

    Business activities: E-commerce price comparison service across Southeast Asia

  • (5)

    CEO: Paul Brown-Kenyon

    iPrice Group URL: https://ipricegroup.com/

    iPrice Malaysia URL: https://iprice.my/

    iPrice Singapore URL: https://iprice.sg/

    iPrice Indonesia URL: https://iprice.co.id/

    iPrice Thailand URL: https://ipricethailand.com/

    iPrice Philippines URL: https://iprice.ph/

    iPrice Vietnam URL: https://iprice.vn/

    iPrice Hong Kong URL: https://iprice.hk/

• ■About KDDI Open Innovation Fund

  KDDI Open Innovation Fund is a corporate venture fund that supports a broad range of venture companies. The currently active KDDI Open Innovation Fund III focuses on the areas of AI, IoT, data marketing, fintech, B2B SaaS, and entertainment with a total operating fund of 20 billion yen.