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Originating from Malaysia where it is known as Bemalas, the startup handles 30,000 requests monthly, to which it plays concierge

Staff members of Belazee. (Image credit: Belazee)

Conversational commerce platform Belazee has raised fresh funding of an undisclosed amount following their seed round of US$500,000 in June 2015, the Malaysia-based startup announced today.

This latest round was co-led by DeNA (a Japan-based company that develops and operates mobile and online services including games, e-commerce and entertainment content) and Fenox Venture (an US-based venture capital firm), with participation from RIMU Group (a Singapore-based incubator founded by serial entrepreneurs).

“We continue to be the innovators in this space. We are extremely humbled to have world-class investors who believe in our vision and have the global network to help us reach even higher,” said Group CEO Adlin Yusman.

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Founded in May 2015 by Yusman, Suthenesh Sugumaran, and Puvanendran M Maniam, the company that started out as an on-demand concierge service operating through SMS-only claims it handles 30,000 requests monthly across five countries – Singapore, Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam), Manila (the Philippines), and Brunei besides Malaysia (where it is known as Bemalas). These requests can range from picking up one’s lunch to helping one file taxes.

It is now branding itself as a ‘conversational commerce’ platform with omni-channel chat functionality and a fully-fledged e-commerce store.

Belazee will launch its proprietary app in Malaysia by the end of January before rolling it out regionally by the end of the first quarter of 2016.

“We believe that Belazee is the best growing mobile concierge service in Southeast Asia. We’ll support and collaborate with Belazee to create greater value for the customer and the market,” said Masatoshi Fukasawa, DeNA’s Senior Vice President of the Strategic Investment Office.

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