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Back in the early 2000s, when ecommerce was gaining steam in the UK, Royal Mail ran a series of ads that drove home how its logistics infrastructure enabled all that nifty online shopping. “We are the real network,” the ads boasted. In Southeast Asia, the ecommerce industry is booming, and unsurprisingly, logistics and delivery are at the center of it all.

One of the region’s major players, Thailand-based ecommerce services provider aCommerce, just clinched a deal it hopes will give it a serious leg up in the race. The company announced today that DKSH, a 150-year-old Swiss market expansion services provider focusing on Asia, has made a strategic investment in aCommerce, acquiring a 20 percent stake. The financial terms are not disclosed.

Online shopping boom in Southeast Asia

“Taking this strategic investment is a huge win for us because it allows us to expand faster into new markets like Singapore, Malaysia, and Vietnam and onboard hundreds of brands,” Paul Srivorakul, group CEO of aCommerce, says in a statement. “With the combined strengths and infrastructure aCommerce can now offer a complete solution for our B2C or B2B clients for both online and offline.”

At the moment, aCommerce has offices and distribution centers in Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines. Its 140 clients include both ecommerce firms and companies whose business includes online shopping, like L’Oreal, Hewlett-Packard, Samsung, Nestle, Lazada, MatahariMall, Line, and more.

DKSH has generated net sales of more than US$10 billion in 2014, and has 165 distribution centers across Asia.

See: Here’s SingPost’s grand plan to rule ecommerce in AsiaThe startup has so far raised about US$20 million in total disclosed funding, from investors like Ardent Capital, CyberAgent Ventures, and Sinar Mas Digital Ventures. It raised a regional record-breaker US$10 million series A round in June 2014, led by Inspire Ventures and joined by a number of other investors like NTT Docomo. Then it raised an additional US$5 million in May 2015 from investors including Ardent and Sinar Mas in anticipation of a planned US$30 million series B. So the DKSH deal comes as a surprise move.

We have reached out to aCommerce for more information and we will update this story when we hear back.

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