Founded 10 years ago, Convy is now Thailand’s top beauty e-commerce platform. It plans to accelerate its omni-channel and international distribution with a new $10 million Series A from Insignia Ventures Partners.
Convey It was launched in 2012 by Chinese entrepreneur QingGui Huang, who previously ran fashion e-commerce platforms in China. It now works with over 1,000 brands representing over 20,000 SKUs. Its brand portfolio includes L’Oréal, Shiseido, Sulwhasoo, Eucerin and La Roche-Posay.
“Convy had the advantage of starting in Thailand when there were no significant e-commerce players at the time,” Huang told TechCrunch. “We have used our first mover advantage in Thailand to become the leading e-commerce player in the market in Thailand.”
Convy founders Leon Huang, Pornsuda Vangvidhyakul and Qinghui Huang
Convi’s mission is to help local and international beauty brands capitalize on two major trends. First, health and beauty shopping is a priority spending category for Thai consumers, and secondly, Thailand sees high levels of e-commerce shopping and social media usage, which means young people in Thailand spend an average of two hours over 55. Minutes on social networks every day.
Huang says that discussions with brands confirmed his assumptions about the cost of beauty products in Thailand, which fueled his desire to launch Conve.
“This opportunity for health and beauty to become a priority spending category for Thai consumers is a function of both demand and supply conditions that have supported this consumer behavior over the past decade,” he said. “On the supply side, Thailand has been a manufacturing hub for many global brands for more than 40 years. This has created a thriving domestic industry. On the demand side, we see Thai consumers being immersed in this ‘improvement’ mindset when it comes to health and beauty, ie, products like these. It’s not just finding, it’s actually finding the best products and being super willing. Spend on the latest trends.
Konvy has set the highest level of social media usage by setting up a feedback loop, and engagement with its partner brands will not only help Konvy’s portfolio, but also more brands in the future. For example, when many Gen Z consumers bought products they saw on TikTok during the pandemic, Convey showed itself more on that channel.
In a statement, Yinglan Tan, managing partner of Incinia Ventures Partners, said: “While there may be stronger competitors from horizontal marketplaces in the future, we believe that Konvy is better positioned to become the market leader as it has a long-standing brand name in the online beauty segment. An equity, brand-oriented and community-led approach.
