New Delhi, April 9 -- Bangladeshi B2B commerce platform ShopUp, which is backed by Indian venture capital firm Peak XV Partners and Peter Thiel's Valar Ventures, is merging with Saudi B2B marketplace Sary to form the SILQ Group.

The merged entity has also snagged $110 million in a funding round led by Sanabil Investments, a wholly owned arm of Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund Public Investment Fund (PIF), and by Valar Ventures.

The funding round was also backed by ShopUp's existing investors Flourish Ventures, VSQ, MSA Capital, Rocketship VC, STV, Wafra Investment (owned by Public Institution for Social Security of Kuwait), Peak XV, Prosus, Tiger Global, Endeavor Catalyst, and Raed Ventures.

Apart from these, the round will also see a bunch of new investors including the Qatar government-owned Qatar Development Bank join the cap table, the newly formed SILQ Group said in a release.

The merger deal was an all-stock transaction in which ShopUp's VC backers did not make an exit. It marks Sanabil's first foray into South Asia, as trade between the two regions continues to increase.

The round includes an equity investment and financing facility for SILQ Financial, the group's newly minted financial services arm which will focus on lending to small and medium enterprises.

Following the merger, both ShopUp and Sary brands will continue to operate in their respective geographies under their respective brand names, SILQ said.

The merged entity will be led by ShopUp founder and CEO Afeef Zaman while Sary founder and CEO Mohammed Aldossary will lead SILQ Financial.

Peak XV (known earlier as Sequoia Capital India and Southeast Asia) and Flourish Ventures had first backed ShopUp in October 2020, when they led a $22.5 million Series A round in the Bangladeshi startup. This was the first bet on a Bangladeshi startup by Sequoia India and Flourish. Other investors that backed the round were VEON Ventures, SpeedInvest and Loansdale Capital (Singapore).

Then, a year later, in September 2021, Valar Ventures led a $75 million Series B round that saw Sequoia India, Flourish and VEON return as investors along with Prosus Ventures that came on board as a new investor.

Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from VC Circle.