SECAI MARCHE Raises Additional Funds from NTT DOCOMO Ventures and Synexia Ventures; Forms Strategic Alliance with NTT DATA for HORECA DX in Malaysia

SECAI MARCHE Co., Ltd. (HQ: Tokyo; Global bases: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and Singapore), has announced the completion of an additional funding round with NTT DOCOMO Ventures, Inc. and Synexia Ventures Pte. Ltd. as investors. In conjunction with this funding, the company has signed a business alliance agreement with NTT DATA Corporation to provide services tailored for the HORECA industry in Malaysia.

To date, SECAI MARCHE has operated a distribution platform that directly connects producers with demand-side entities such as restaurants and retailers, primarily in Southeast Asia. By providing end-to-end support for ordering, logistics, and market development, the company has focused on modernizing and optimizing the food and agriculture supply chain.

With this capital injection, SECAI MARCHE plans to strengthen its business foundation and product development team while accelerating the expansion of services for the HORECA (Hotel, Restaurant, Catering) sector in Malaysia.

## Addressing Challenges in Malaysia's HORECA Sector
In Malaysia's HORECA industry, invoice processing and payment tasks related to food procurement are still largely manual. This leads to heavy back-office workloads, human error, and complex cash flow management. Furthermore, farmers and producers on the supply side also face significant accounting burdens and financial management hurdles due to manual Accounts Payable (AP) processes.

## Partnership with NTT DATA
Through this alliance, SECAI MARCHE will integrate its food distribution platform with NTT DATA’s payment and invoicing solutions to offer a unified service for procurement, billing, and settlement. Key objectives include:
- Improving operational efficiency through invoice digitalization
- Providing online payment functionalities
- Advancing cash flow management through real-time visibility of payment status

Beyond supporting restaurants in the Accounts Receivable (AR) domain, the company will also support AP management for farmers, aiming to optimize transactions across the entire supply chain and build a transparent trading infrastructure.

## Future Outlook: Financial Service Expansion
Moving forward, the company intends to utilize accumulated transaction and invoice data to offer financial services such as Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) and supply chain finance. Additionally, it is exploring microfinance possibilities for farmers based on trade data, addressing financial bottlenecks upstream in the supply chain.

Guided by the mission 'GROWTH FOR EVERYONE,' SECAI MARCHE remains committed to innovating food and agricultural distribution through both technology and field operations.