Lazada co-founders' Crea raises $25 million from brand accelerator SuperOrdinary

Crea, billed as an omnichannel partner for brands and led by serial entrepreneurs and Lazada co-founders Aimone Ripa di Meana and Alessandro Piscini, has raised $25 million from SuperOrdinary, a digital commerce enabler based in Shanghai.

The founders expect the investment to help Crea attract new brands to the region’s digital commerce ecosystem by offering services covering the United States, China and Southeast Asia.

This latest funding takes total investments in Crea to date to $38 million.

As part of the deal, Crea and SuperOrdinary will develop a cross-border global platform network and allow each company’s respective portfolio to expand into new markets. Crea started in Thailand in 2019, launched Malaysia in Singapore in March 2021 and plans to open in Vietnam, Indonesia and Philippines soon.

Crea helps sellers manage omnichannel operations by tracking and monitoring all their stock across all channels and helps them with e-fulfillment needs like storing, packing and shipping their products. 

“Southeast Asia presents a unique opportunity for global brands with young, digital-savvy consumers who are increasing their consumption power and avidly engaging with global trends through digital media,” said di Meana.

Through organic business expansion and revenue synergies from the partnership, Crea aims to triple its revenue in 2022 and grow by 500% by 2023. Over the last year, Crea's portfolio of brands, spanning across beauty, FMCG and fashion categories, includes Kiehl’s, Clarins and Nestle Dolce Gusto. SuperOrdinary's brand basket includes Drunk Elephant, The Ordinary and Supergoop.

The partnership, according to the company, means consumers in Thailand and Southeast Asia will have an increased choice of global beauty brands to choose from when shopping. Brands will benefit, the company claims, from easier regional market entry via a single solution to reach over 589 million consumers. Crea cited e-Conomy SEA 2021, a research report from Google, Temasek and Bain, which says the Southeast Asia ecommerce market is expected to reach $234 billion by 2025.

“Digital commerce in Southeast Asia is experiencing an unprecedented boom and CREA’s team has played an integral role in allowing its portfolio of more than 70 prominent lifestyle brands to capitalise on this trend," Julian Reis, CEO and founder of SuperOrdinary said, explaining his firm's investment.