Interview with CEO Taku Tanaka, who successfully raised Series-B $7.8M to position Kamereo as Vietnam’s leading B2B e-commerce platform

"Congratulations on Kamereo team's successful funding round 🎉. Very well-deserved! 👏 Thank you Mr. Taku Tanaka for spending time sharing your inspiring startup journey with LeanNew audience. We're excited to know more about that. Let's discover 😉"

🧐 Can you describe your business to the general audience?

Kamereo is a B2B E-Commerce Platform for F&B business in Vietnam.

🌟 Why did you decide to start your own business?

I found there is a huge opportunity to streamline the food supply chain in Vietnam as no one does.

🌱 Those first days when you translated your startup idea into action:

In the beginning, we started a different business model as a SaaS business, which charged monthly fees to F&B businesses wanting to connect with suppliers via the system to place orders. However, it did not work as only connecting buyers and suppliers didn't create much value for the F&B business. The real values buyers want are consolidation as a one-stop platform, competitive price, stable supply, on-time delivery, etc. We learned what we need to give to F&B business as a value proposition from the 1st business model we failed.

🌪️ The most challenges your team went through? How did you overcome them?

The biggest difficulty in our company history was the Covid-19 period as our revenue suddenly became zero during the lockdown. We became stronger as a team since we overcame this hardship together by minimizing costs as much as possible. This has helped us to manage costs well even after we grew and raised money till now.

🏆 The achievements you remember most during your startup journey?

Even though fundraising is not the purpose it's the way to achieve the vision. I think every fundraising round is an important achievement/ milestone for us since we can not do it if we don't progress in business.

🥇The quality you think the most important a startup leader should have:

Clear long-term vision of what you want to build.

👨‍🏫 The person has inspired you most:

Mr. Heizo Takenaka, my professor when I was university student.

🌷3 words about you:

Kaizen / Humble / Long term.

* Kaizen: continuous improvement.

🌏 If you have a day-off, what will you do?

Travel.

📚Books you recommend:

Self-Help by Samuel Smiles.

☀️ Sunrise or sunset?

Sunset.

🎶 Song you've listened recently:

APT.

🍛 Your favourite food:

Bún đậu mắm tôm.

* Bun dau mam tom: A delicious Vietnamese dish including noodles, fried tofu & shrimp sauce.

✊ Your advice for future entrepreneurs:

Be clear about customer needs/problem, value proposition and MOAT you build in the future.

🔭 Trends in your field:

Sustainability, Farm to Table, Traceability, Food Safety.

🇻🇳 Vietnamese market through your lens:

Not easy market to crack but promising for long term.

👑 Your business' mission:

Redefine the food business.

🎯 Your business' future plan:

Expand more cities with more products and services. We have recently launched business in Hanoi and we are getting positive feedback in Hanoi!

🚀 "We believe Kamereo is going to go far in future to make an efficient food supply chain for the Vietnamese F&B market. Fighting!"