The funding pushes the company close to unicorn status.

Tech in Asia reports that Tiki, the Vietnamese e-commerce giant, recently raised US$258 million in a round of series E funding, bringing the company's valuation to almost US$1 billion. 

The investment was led by AIA, the insurance corporation, in addition to Taiwan Mobile, Mirae Asset-Naver Asia Growth Fund, STIC Investments and Yuanta Fund. According to the news source, AIA accounted for US$60 million of the investment. This follows the July announcement that Tiki and AIA Vietnam had signed a 10-year partnership, in which the insurance firm will be the e-commerce group's exclusive insurance partner. 

Thanks to that agreement, from next month, customers in Vietnam will be able to buy AIA insurance through Tiki and manage their accounts and claims through the tech platform. 

Taiwan Mobile is a previous investor in Tiki, having pumped US$20 million into the company earlier this year. Despite Tiki's impressive value, it lags behind Shopee and Lazada, two regional e-commerce behemoths, in both monthly web traffic and app rankings. 

The news outlet quotes a public statement from Son Tran, Tiki's founder, as saying "we want to become a place where Vietnamese people can find every product or service that they need." 

Meanwhile, Bloombergreports that Tiki is considering an IPO in the United States through a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) next year.