Enabling Access to Quality Food at an Affordable Price

98% of consumption in Bangladesh, one of Asia’s most fragmented retail markets, occurs through 4.5 million small neighborhood shops. These shops face daily struggles when procuring and distributing goods, and have limited access to formal financing. ShopUp is solving this with its full-stack B2B commerce platform

ShopUp retailer man crossed hand in front of store

Our Story

The inspiration for ShopUp came from Afeef Zaman's visits to see his grandparents in Bauphal, Patuakhali, where the largest pottery cluster of Bangladesh is located. During his visits, Afeef noted how the small pottery businesses struggled to scale and compete with large conglomerates that easily captured the market due to strong distribution capabilities. Delving deeper into the challenges faced by small businesses, the primary obstacles hindering their growth were identified: efficient sourcing, seamless logistics, and affordable financing.

Today, ShopUp facilitates easy access to quality food and household items at the best price, for 31 million people in Bangladesh, by connecting mills and manufacturers to a network of small neighbourhood shops

Our Leadership

Afeef Zaman

Founder & CEO

Afeef founded his first tech company at 20 during his college years. He led a team of 150 and boosted it to 3 million USD in revenue before starting ShopUp. His vision for ShopUp was to equip MSMEs with the power of technology. Today, 31 million people in Bangladesh obtain food and essential goods through ShopUp's network of small neighborhood shops. Afeef is a resilient optimist who passionately advocates the surging potential of a young and entrepreneurial Bangladesh

Ataur Rahim Chowdhury

Co-Founder & CPO

Ataur Rahim Chowdhury is the co-founder and Chief Product Officer of ShopUp, the largest B2B commerce platform in Bangladesh. He oversees the development and growth of the platform, expanding its reach to new markets and improving user experience. Ataur is committed to empowering small businesses and mentoring young product managers

Sujayath Ali

Co-Founder, CBO & COO

Sujayath Ali is a co-founder at ShopUp, currently serving as CBO and COO. Sujayath started his career as a Sr Software Development Engineer with iNautix Technologies. He was the first product manager at Amazon India. He served as Sr. PM at Amazon US and Global VP of product at Visa. In 2013, Sujayath co-founded Voonik

Navaneetha Krishnan J

Co-Founder & CTO

Navaneetha Krishnan is a co-founder at ShopUp, serving the role of CTO. Navaneetha was an early developer at Zoho and Freshworks. In 2013, Navaneetha co-founded Voonik

Our Investors

Our Journey

‘23

In July, we launched Onkur, with the mission to provide financing to unserved and underserved CMSMEs (Cottage, Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises) and agri-businesses in Bangladesh.

‘21

By June, Mokam became the largest B2B commerce platform in Bangladesh. In September, we successfully closed our Series B funding round, raising USD $108 million. This round was led by prominent investors including Valar Ventures, Tiger Global, Prosus, Sequoia, Flourish, Veon Ventures, and Lonsdale Capital. Notably, this marked the largest Series B investment ever secured by a B2B commerce platform in South Asia.

‘20

In January, we were named Best Startup of the Year! February brought two big milestones: Voonik's acquisition & our Bengaluru office launch. March saw the birth of REDX, and by April, we closed a $3.2M pre-Series A led by Sequoia, Surge, and Flourish. REDX conquered last-mile logistics in just 6 weeks, and in October, we raised $22.5M Series A, led by Sequoia, Flourish, Veon Ventures, Speedinvest, & Lonsdale Capital

‘19

In April, ShopUp became a part of the Surge 01 cohort. Our commerce platform, Mokam, was officially launched in December.

‘18

ShopUp's rocketship took off in February. In November, we successfully completed our seed funding round, raising USD $1.6 million. This round was led by Flourish and Omidyar Network.