July 2022, Philippines – Following a successful US$ 2 million ( 112 M) seed round, Packworks has publicly launched its mobile enterprise resource planning (ERP) application for sari-sari store owners.
“At Fast, we constantly search for ways to improve our country’s supply chain. The over 1 million sari-sari stores in the Philippines are a critical component of this chain, and we believe that an immense opportunity exists to build a digital layer to connect these stores with customers and suppliers. Layering Packworks’ digital fabric to this network and leveraging its emerging data has exciting prospects for creating supply chain efficiencies, especially when combined with the experience and national scale of Fast. We are happy to partner with Bing, Ibba, Hubert and the dedicated team at Packworks to empower more micro-entrepreneurs and transform the way they do commerce,” Brice Cu, Senior Managing Director and Country Head of Philippines for CVC Capital Partners and Board Member of Fast Group said.
The seed round is led by leading end-to-end logistics group Fast Group and global private equity firm CVC Capital Partners, with participation from ADB Ventures, Arise, Techstars, and IdeaSpace Foundation.
Packworks will put the money toward developing The Pack: SuperStore App, expanding its services, and improving its user experience. It also intends to establish a department that works directly with sari-sari businesses and provides additional services in collaboration with partners, as well as to provide an open platform for financial institutions and brands to communicate directly with store owners.
Founded in 2018 with five sari-sari shop partners and has since grown to have a 150,000 network countrywide, with plans to have 220,000 outlets by the end of 2022 and 500,000 by the end of 2023.
Packworks aspires to provide a platform for other organizations interested in assisting the bottom of the pyramid by tackling the sari-sari shop dilemma by enabling the value chain and empowering all stakeholders engaged in the sari-sari ecosystem.
The Sari-preneurs Companion
Store owners may use The Pack: SuperStore App to manage their inventory, bookkeeping, and data collecting. They may also obtain financial products and acquire goods at a lower cost without having to coordinate and purchase fresh stock.
The app is simple to use, with minimal bandwidth and a small footprint, allowing users to operate their companies more effectively, with the purpose of tackling the high cost of poverty, where store owners pay the highest credit rates and spend the most on consumer products. It also intends to reduce interest costs and improve money management by providing access to e-payments.
Founders Hubert Yap, Bing Tan, and Ibba Bernardo, having witnessed firsthand the obstacles posed by limited access to sari-sari store owners, particularly in remote areas, they pledged to share their technological know-how and motivate them to transition from analog to digital operations.
“We observed that these stores have a hard time tracking their inventories and getting supplies for their stores, especially the ones in the provinces. That’s when the idea of making a one-stop app for everything pops out,” Tan said, “We believe the idea will help millions more families that solely depend on their sari-sari store profits to meet ends every day.”
