Asian Goods Shopping Platform Yami Secures $50M in Round-B Financing

Yami, the largest online shopping platform in North America specializing in Asian commodities, announced Wednesday that it has raised round-B financing of $50 million, co-led by Altos Ventures and Balsam Bay Partners, with participation from previous backers J.P Morgan and GGV Capital.

Yami was established in March 2013 and is headquartered in California. Up to now, the number of users of Yami has exceeded 2 million. Yami is a direct-to-consumer marketplace for Asian food, skincare products, and household goods, with more than 260,000 stock keeping units (SKUs).

Overseas students in the United States and people of Asian descent – particularly Chinese – are the main target consumers of Yami in the early stages. According to the U.S. Census Bureau in 2021, the number of ethnic Asians in the country has increased by 81% since 2000, and it is estimated that the total Asian population will triple by 2060, making it the country’s fastest growing ethnic group.

At the beginning of its development, Yami adopted snacks from Asia as its market icebreaker, and this is also its largest category at present, accounting for about 50% of revenue.

Since then, with the continuous growth of users, Yami has gradually expanded to provide skin care products, beauty cosmetics, electrical appliances, maternal products, books and other categories.

Yami has cooperated with more than 4,000 brands and has established deep cooperative relations with famous brands including beverage firm Genki Forest, home appliance firm Buydeem and Joyoung, beauty products maker Shiseido and Dr. Jart. Yami is also the largest overseas partner of Genki Forest and coffee retailer Saturnbird, boosting their annual sales to over millions of dollars.

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Part of the funds garnered in this round of financing are expected to be used for fine product selection. In the past, Yami mainly sells products from Chinese brands, but now it has gradually added brands in Japan, South Korea and Southeast Asia. At the beginning of this year, Yami set up an office in Japan to expand its exploration of local brands. It also plans to explore the various Southeast Asian markets.