Upmesh: Community-Driven Live Commerce Discovery in Southeast Asia

Upmesh: Automating Live Commerce in Southeast Asia

The genesis of Upmesh stemmed from the founders’ experience building a game utilizing Twitch’s API. During this process, they observed a significant need within the livestreaming community. Despite the increasing adoption of selling via platforms like Facebook Live throughout Southeast Asia, many vendors were still relying on manual methods – sifting through comments and using traditional pen and paper – to manage their orders.

Seed Funding and Key Investors

Upmesh has recently secured $3 million in seed funding, spearheaded by Leo Capital. Beenext, iSeed, and several prominent individuals also participated in the round. These include Jonathan Barki, head of merchant financial services at Goto Financial, and the founders of BukuWarung, Abhinay Peddisetty and Chinmay Chauhan, as well as Royston Tay and Kwok Yang Bin, the creators of Zopim.

Growth and Current Market Position

Launched just nine months ago by Wong Zi Yang, Soh Jan, Nhat Vu, and Shawn Teow, Upmesh is currently serving nearly 300 live commerce merchants across Singapore, Malaysia, and the Philippines. The startup reports an annualized gross merchandise value processed of $40 million.

How Upmesh Streamlines the Checkout Process

The platform’s core functionality lies in its ability to automate the e-commerce aspects of live streams. It automatically captures orders placed in the livestream comments – for instance, “white top +1” – accurately matches these orders to the corresponding items in the seller’s inventory, and then delivers a checkout link directly to the customer.

Currently, Upmesh integrates with Facebook Live, but plans are underway to expand compatibility to other platforms. The ultimate goal is to achieve platform agnosticism.

Competitive Landscape

Several companies offer order-capturing tools for live commerce, including CommentSold, Dibsly, Soldie, and Buy It Live. However, Upmesh’s founders emphasize their platform’s unique focus on adapting to the specific needs and expectations of sellers and customers within diverse Southeast Asian markets as a key differentiator.

Regional Nuances in Live Selling

“The methods for order collection during live selling vary considerably across Southeast Asian countries,” explains chief executive officer Wong. “The timing of inventory input – before or after the live stream – and even the practice of maintaining stock counts differ significantly between locations like Singapore and the Philippines.”

For example, Singaporean sellers typically experience rapid inventory turnover, with even those offering extensive catalogs holding stock for limited periods. Conversely, many vendors in the Philippines utilize live commerce to complement their existing brick-and-mortar businesses, drawing inventory directly from their stores.

“The software’s architecture must be highly customized to cater to these individual market characteristics,” Wong asserts.

Expansion Plans and Future Development

Upmesh intends to concentrate its efforts on the Philippines and Malaysia for at least the next six months, leveraging its new funding. Expansion into Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam is also planned. The company will be increasing its team size, launching marketing initiatives, and developing educational resources for sellers.

The Evolution of E-commerce and Live Commerce

Wong points out that while the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the adoption of e-commerce, it wasn’t the primary driver of interest in live commerce. Many of their clients had already been livestreaming for approximately three years.

“The nature of interaction within e-commerce is evolving, becoming increasingly relationship-focused,” Wong states. “Our sellers often know their buyers by name and address them personally during livestreams, effectively replacing traditional advertising for small businesses.”

Organic Growth and Community Focus

To date, the majority of Upmesh’s user acquisition has been driven by word-of-mouth referrals, particularly within the fashion live selling community, which is known for its strong interconnectedness, according to Wong.

Building a Community-Driven Platform

Upmesh’s long-term vision centers on transforming these communities into new revenue streams. The company aims to create a platform that facilitates interaction between sellers and buyers, and enables the discovery of live commerce videos across various social media platforms.

Drawing Parallels to the U.S. Market

“Looking at the U.S. market, platforms like Whatnot have emerged, but they primarily focus on collectibles and vintage items – categories with a robust secondary reseller market,” Wong explains. “These verticals already had established communities on platforms like eBay, YouTube, and through offline interactions, and Whatnot provided a centralized hub for them.”

Southeast Asia’s Unique Market Dynamics

Southeast Asia, however, lacks a comparable collectibles market. Instead, communities tend to form around different product types, such as fashion or fresh produce. Upmesh intends to cater to these specific verticals.

“The ultimate goal of live commerce is to enable discovery and interaction with diverse sellers, and then allow users to delve deeper once they find a seller they appreciate,” Wong concludes. “We guide users to the products, and with our comprehensive inventory data, we can quickly identify which sellers offer a specific item, like a red dress.”