Home-grown shopping platform Shopee opened its new six-storey regional headquarters in Kent Ridge yesterday, in a move that bodes well for Singapore's push into the digital economy sector.
Since its launch in 2015, Shopee, which is owned by consumer Internet firm Sea, has grown into one of South-east Asia's leading e-commerce platforms, with operations in seven places including Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam.
In the second quarter of this year, the platform achieved 246.3 million orders regionally and recorded a gross merchandise volume of US$3.8 billion (S$5.3 billion).
Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat, who officiated the opening, said Shopee's growth is aligned with Singapore's plans for growing the economy and positioning itself as a hub to harness the potential of the growing digital economy.
"The rise of South-east Asian and Asian economies brings opportunities, and we must position Singapore well to harness them. We have to constantly strive to ensure that companies like Shopee, doing business across the region, will continue to see Singapore as an ideal base for serving the region," he said.
"We strive to serve as a global-Asia node - in linking the world to Asia and Asia to the world."
Mr Heng also spoke about efforts to build up Singapore's value to the business economy. He cited ongoing plans for a pathfinder Digital Economy Partnership Agreement with Chile and New Zealand, collaboration with Australia on digital economy initiatives, and investments in research and development in the services and digital economy domain.