
20 Oct 2020
VEON acquires strategic stake in Bangladesh's leading full-stack B2B commerce platform, ShopUp Investment expands VEON's fintech reach into SME commerce
Amsterdam, 20 October 2020 - VEON Ltd. (NASDAQ: VEON, Euronext Amsterdam: VEON), through VEON Ventures, has joined Sequoia Capital India and Flourish Ventures as investors in ShopUp, Bangladesh's leading full-stack B2B commerce platform for small businesses, becoming ShopUp's first strategic corporate investor.
The investment enables VEON Ventures to support ShopUp's fast-growing digital ecosystem for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), which form a vital backbone of Bangladesh's economy, as well as providing significant opportunities for developing mobile financial services for ShopUp's users.
As Bangladesh's leading full-stack B2B commerce company, ShopUp provides B2B sourcing, logistics and financial services to MSMEs through its mobile-first digital platform and market-leading last mile logistics service, RedX. ShopUp is already used by a large portion of Bangladeshi local businesses, helping neighbourhood shops and online sellers overcome the supply chain challenges of Bangladesh's highly fragmented wholesale, retail and distribution channels.
ShopUp's embedded financial services product provides MSMEs with access to digital credit through partnerships with leading local financial institutions, broadening financial inclusion to communities of small businesses that often lack access to basic banking services.
Sergi Herrero, VEON's co-CEO, said: Our investment in ShopUp offers VEON Ventures a fantastic opportunity to back one of the leading digital players in a strategic market for VEON and one of the world's fastest growing economies. By combining VEON's expertise in digital financial services with ShopUp's unique sourcing and logistics capabilities, we look forward to serving the business needs of Bangladesh's vibrant MSME community while helping to promote financial inclusion throughout the nation's millions of small business owners.
Afeef Zaman, co-Founder and CEO of ShopUp, said: We knew we would witness massive adoption of the internet and technology by Bangladesh's small businesses and founded ShopUp because we wanted to play our part in redefining the nation's growth story through this transformation. COVID-19 makes this shift even more critical for Bangladesh's smaller businesses as supply chain pressures intensify. An investment from a leading international digital player such as VEON is an important step in our ongoing support of the MSME community, allowing us to increase our reach with retailers, suppliers and manufacturers.
VEON's investment was led by the VEON Ventures division, which pursues investment opportunities across digital assets and businesses with the ability to scale VEON's capabilities in mobile financial services, adtech and next-generation media content in order to enrich the experience of VEON's 205 million customers worldwide.
VEON's investment in ShopUp was made alongside Flourish Ventures and Sequoia Capital India. Both investment firms co-led the current investment round for ShopUp, with additional participation from Speedinvest and Lonsdale in what is the largest Series A round of its kind for a Bangladeshi start-up.
About VEON and ShopUp
VEON is a NASDAQ and Euronext Amsterdam-listed global provider of connectivity and internet services. For more information visit: www.veon.com.
ShopUp is Bangladesh's leading full-stack B2B Commerce platform for small businesses (neighbourhood shops and online sellers). We provide easy access to B2B sourcing, last-mile logistics, digital credit and business management solutions. To know more about our work, visit www.shopup.com.bd.
Disclaimer
This release contains forward-looking statements, as the phrase is defined in Section 27A of the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Forward-looking statements are not historical facts, and include statements relating to, among other things, the potential benefits of the transaction described above. Forward-looking statements are inherently subject to risks and uncertainties, many of which VEON cannot predict with accuracy and some of which VEON might not even anticipate. The forward-looking statements contained in this release speak only as of the date of this release. VEON does not undertake to publicly update, except as required by U.S. federal securities laws, any forward-looking statement to reflect events or circumstances after such dates or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.
This website stores cookies on your computer. These cookies are used to improve vour website experience and provide more personalized services to you, both on this website and through other media. To find out more about the cookies we use, see our Privacy Policy
We wont track your information when you visit our site. But in order to comply with your preferences, well have to use just one tiny cookie so that youre not asked to make this choice again.
AcceptDecline
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
22/06/2026
Behind The Mic provides a roundup of recent news regarding on-air talent, includ...
22/06/2026
Cosm has announced the appointment of David Ho as Chief Legal Officer, a newly created executive role reporting to President and CEO Jeb Terry. Ho will oversee ...
22/06/2026
Warner Bros. Discovery and Amazon Web Services (AWS) have announced the developm...
22/06/2026
Daktronics has completed an audio control system upgrade at Petco Park in San Di...
22/06/2026
Accelerate Media has named John Willi as President and announced the launch of the Accelerate Sports Network (ASN), a prep sports media and streaming platform c...
22/06/2026
All Women's Sports Network (AWSN) and 3XBA (3 3 Basketball Association) have announced live television coverage of the annual 3XBA tournament on Friday, Jun...
22/06/2026
OWL AI has announced the appointment of Jay Prasad as Chief Executive Officer and member of the Board of Directors. Prasad succeeds Josh Gwyther, who has served...
22/06/2026
CP Communications delivered RF video and audio support for TNT's Inside the NBA at the 2026 NBA Finals, providing main show coverage in San Antonio and ea...
22/06/2026
Polymarket has announced a partnership with GRID, an official esports data platf...
22/06/2026
As sports venues continue to evolve into more video-centric, fan-engagement-driv...
22/06/2026
As the regional sports production scene shifts toward streaming, this Texan helps lead the engineering behind Victory+'s growing live platform...
22/06/2026
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
the memories of your elders [are] a scaffolding for you to build your identity on - and t...
22/06/2026
New hyper-resolution analyser EQ revealed
CEDAR Audio's all-new Icons plug-in series has just gained its newest member, Blade. Described by the compan...
22/06/2026
Turn any live input into a cinematic soundscape
Designed for use in the studio and on stage, Sampleson's latest creation is capable of taking any audio ...
22/06/2026
Adds guitar strings to Eurorack rigs
ADDAC System are renowned for their weird and wonderful synth designs, and their line-up includes plenty of gear that...
22/06/2026
FIFA World Cup 2026 fever grows, as more than one third of Australians tune in ...
22/06/2026
In our latest blog, Tim Pearson explores NAGRA Venturi, the new streaming security solution for the AI era from NAGRAVISION. Designed to aggregate and analyze ...
22/06/2026
Expanded integrations give advertisers access to distinct contextual signals acr...
22/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/06/2026
Xilica today announced the release of Dynamic Voice Lift, a new feature in Xilica Designer v4.12 that brings adaptive speech reinforcement to large meeting spac...
22/06/2026
Monday 22 June 2026
Official trailer released for Katie Price: Nothing to Hide,...
22/06/2026
The next era of AI will not be defined by compute alone. Its growth will be dete...
22/06/2026
Mission, Vision and Veritas - new Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) supercom...
22/06/2026
At the ISC conference running in Hamburg this week, NVIDIA is introducing new so...
22/06/2026
For the past two years, the U.S. National Science Foundation's National Arti...
22/06/2026
JUPITER, Europe's first exascale supercomputer at Germany's Forschungszentrum J lich, runs on NVIDIA Grace Hopper Superchips and NVIDIA Quantum-X800 Inf...
21/06/2026
To call the 2026 FIFA World Cup a big undertaking would be a big understatement....
21/06/2026
New series now live on Udemy
Regular SOS contributor and Cubase workshop columnist John Walden has just released a new Cubase video course that is now avail...
21/06/2026
Hot tubs sit at about 38 to 40 degrees Celsius, warm enough that most people can only soak for about 15 minutes. NVIDIA's newest AI servers can run their co...
21/06/2026
Sunday 21 June 2026
Sky announces immersive documentary series The Wargame
The Wargame first looks
ZIP (2MB)
Sky today confirms the commission of The Wargam...
20/06/2026
New add-on creates doubles & vocal stacks
IK Multimedia's latest ReSing add-on kits the innovative software out with the ability to automatically genera...
20/06/2026
What exactly is Apogee Control V3?
Control V3 is a new mixer application that controls Apogee interfaces. The new hit feature is that V3 finally allows for...
19/06/2026
Split compound eases operational challenges at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club...
19/06/2026
North Carolina, Oklahoma meet in the best-of-three Finals as ESPN leans into spe...
19/06/2026
Company launch comprehensive mix-comparison tool
The Him DSP are a plug-in company founded by The Him, an EDM DJ and producer who has amassed over half a bi...
19/06/2026
Major Sampler upgrades introduced
The latest version of Bitwig's DAW software has just entered public beta testing, and is available now for all users w...
19/06/2026
Four times the power of their predecessors
Akai Pro have just introduced upgraded versions of two of their popular standalone MPC systems, kitting them out ...
19/06/2026
Data from May shows seasonal outdoor trends triggers lower viewing
Warsaw, Pola...
19/06/2026
Buttons is best control system in the rAVe Best of Infocomm Awards 2026...
19/06/2026
Mavis Studio Makes iPad Production More Powerful
Brie Clayton June 19, 2026
0 Comments
InfoComm update brings new NDI Preview, PTZ control, USB audio ...
19/06/2026
Immersive Studio Metaverse Stage Tackles Post with Blackmagic Design
Brie Clayton June 19, 2026
0 Comments
New narrative projects rely on DaVinci Reso...
19/06/2026
How to Run the Original 1993 After Effects
Graham Quince June 19, 2026
0 Comments
How to the original After Effects v1 in an emulator, and you don'...
19/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/06/2026
SMPTE , the home of media professionals, technologists and engineers, has announced that its entire Standards catalog is now freely available to the global medi...