There once was a time when many said that Media was dead, and only a fool of an investor would put his money into such a property. It appears, however, that this old adage is no longer true as the fast-growing Vox media company has just closed another round of funding that puts the company’s valuation close to $400 million.

According to a release by Vox, General Atlantic, a New York-based investment firm has invested $46 million into Vox. As Vox is a private entity, it’s not known what sort of stake General Atlantic will be taking in the company.  In comparison, new Media mammoth Vice is valued at $2 billion while Buzzfeed’s latest investment round pegs the company at $850 million.

To put things into perspective, Jeff Bezos paid $250 million to purchase The Washington Post.

Although venture capital companies have typically avoided putting serious capital into the usually low-margin media business, as Anton Levy explains to The New York Times the market environment has changed.

“For the next five years, you are going to have the next generation of media platforms emerge. There are parallels to cable in the ‘80s. There is going to be a huge amount of value creation,” he said to the Times.

The strength of Vox for investors lies in its abilities to develop custom content for advertisers. Vox’s CEO, Jim Bankoff, says his company will use part of that investment to expand VoxCreative, its internal custom content development agency.

Bankoff also said in a blog post that the company will be expanding its video offerings (which as Ziff Davis’ parent company’s earnings show, is a mighty profit driver).

According to comScore, Vox’s flagship, Vox.com, grew to 10.9 million visitors per month in October having only launched half a year earlier.

The post Vox Raises $46.5 Million in Funding Round, Now Valued at $380 Million appeared first on VR World.

Indonesian e-commerce startup Tokopedia has raised a $100 million funding round led by SoftBank (TYO:9984), through SoftBank Internet and Media Inc / SIMI, and Sequoia Capital. The round is joined by SB Pan Asia Fund, an existing investor into the startup.

The company will use the freshly-raised capital to ramp up customer acquisition, hiring and other initiatives to strengthen its position as an e-commerce provider in Indonesia. “In the Asia region, the growth potential for online marketplaces particularly stands out in Indonesia, and since its founding, Tokopedia has seen remarkable growth with its innovative business model,” says Nikesh Arora, Vice Chairman of SoftBank and SIMI CEO. “Leveraging synergies with our network of Internet businesses, we are confident we can help Tokopedia’s success in the Indonesian market.”

Local e-commerce services on the rise

Internet users in Indonesia have long relied on foreign e-commerce service providers like eBay and Amazon. In fact, as of 2013, Amazon had been the most visited B2C site in the country. 2014 marked some changes, with Rocket Internet (FRA:RKET)-backed Zalora and Lazada rising fast as the top e-commerce sites in the country, a feat helped by its hyper-localized efforts.

Founded in 2009, Tokopedia is currently ranked as Indonesia’s 34th most popular site, according to Alexa. With the capital infusion, the company aims to be the top e-commerce site in the country. Meanwhile, SoftBank is also using this investment as an opportunity to expand its reach and bolster its presence as an Internet company in the region. The deal is expected to conclude by mid-December 2014.

A Nuanced e-Commerce Market

Electronic commerce in Indonesia is a heavily nuanced business, given the character of the average Internet user in the country. First, mobile is the primary means for going online, and less than half of the country’s 74.6 million Internet users are active enough to be called “netizens” — users who are online at least three hours a day. In addition, platforms like BlackBerry Messaging and other mobile chat apps are the preferred means of C2C advertising and deals.

There is also the issue with poor logistics handling, as well as poor credit card penetration. As a result, cash-on-delivery is usually the preferred payment method, although chat app developers have sought ways to incorporate carrier billing or credits-based payments in their applications.

With access to $100 million in fresh capital, Tokopedia ought to address these concerns through innovative solutions that will enable faster and more convenient B2C and C2C transactions within Indonesia.

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