Dropezy Secures 35.5 Billion Rupiah Series A Funding, Offering Quick Commerce Solution

Online grocery startup Dropezy announced a pre-series A funding of $2.5 million (approximately 35.5 billion Rupiah). This round was led by Forge Ventures with participation from Tekton Ventures, Next Billion Ventures, Nordstar, and a range of angel investors, including the founders of Kopi Kenangan and BukuKas.

Through this round, Dropezy will launch its newest expansion solution “quick commerce” which offers instant delivery within 20 minutes. The company will expand its micro fulfillment center (cloud store) to a dozen at various points throughout the Greater Jakarta.

Dropezy’s Co-founder & COO, Nitesh Chellaram said in an official statement, the ongoing pandemic is changing the way consumers shop for daily necessities to online platforms. However, existing online grocery services focus on circling the existing offline supply chain or minimizing costs.

There are some aspects left behind that they have not had time to resolve in fulfilling consumer experience with online shopping, a faster delivery. Dropezy comes with the vision to offer the most convenient way for people to get groceries.

“Dropezy was built from the scratch to satisfy urban consumers who demand convenience and speed that allows them to order daily necessities in small package without a minimum order, with the cheapest delivery rates in Indonesia,” Nitesh said, Thursday (23/9).

He said, with this vision, the company now has 60% of repeat customers still shopping at Dropezy after six months. Also, these customers prefer the consistency and freshness of the Dropezy product selection and reasonable prices.

In its business operations, Dropezy controls inventory and logistics in-house with a committed fleet of riders allocating at least 6 hours a day for small package deliveries. This quick commerce solution is available due to Dropezy’s consumers demand to send orders faster.

“If you’re making coffee and realize you’re out of milk, Dropezy will give it to you before your coffee gets cold. We are excited to partner with investors who share our vision and customer obsession.”

In order to support the company’s vision, Dropezy has one micro fulfillment center (cloud store) assisted by a total team of 100 people to serve next-day delivery. In realizing the company’s ambition to provide 20-minute delivery to the buyer’s location, Dropezy plans to open up to a dozen cloud stores by the end of this year.

Dropezy’s Co-founder & CEO, Chandni Chainani added, “Expanding from 1 warehouse to 10 is very challenging, and there was no way we could have done this without the 18 months of learning and insight we gained from our customers.”

Forge Ventures’ partner, Kaspar Hidayat said, his team is very enthusiastic to partner with Dropezy to revolutionize the online grocery industry. He said, current players are not solving important problems and that is why penetration in this segment is much lower than in the e-commerce industry.

“And Dropezy changed all that. As Dropezy grows, this will allow customers to buy groceries and daily necessities on time, and running out of something essential will be a thing of the past.”

Competition in online grocery industry

The online grocery industry has fierce competition, however, it has high growth space as its penetration is still concentrated in big cities.

A report from Statista said, last year the online grocery market share in this country only reached 0.3%, it is predicted to be increased by 20 basis points to 0.5% in 2022. The pandemic is said to be one of the main factors that triggered the increase in the popularity of online grocery services among consumers.

Based on data, apart from changing consumer online buying behavior, a further impact of the pandemic is a change in consumer mindset in shopping. “Worried about the economic impact of the pandemic, many Indonesian consumers are becoming more budget conscious. In addition, the purchasing priority of basic needs and health among consumers is visible during the pandemic,” the report said.

Therefore, instant delivery solutions at affordable costs are increasingly relevant as it holds potential consumer segment. Aside from Dropezy, more online grocery players are concerned with instant delivery. Among them are Sayurbox, which offers delivery within two hours, BlibliMart, which offers same-day delivery for purchases made between 8 am and 4 pm, and HappyFresh which promises delivery within one hour of ordering.

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Original article is in Indonesian, translated by Kristin Siagian

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Evermos Announces Over 427 Billion Rupiah Series B Funding, Social Commerce Is in Its Peak

Social commerce startup Evermos has announced its series B funding of $30 million or the equivalent of 427.3 billion Rupiah. This round was led by UOB Venture Management through the Asia Impact Investment Fund II. Several other investors involved include MDI Ventures, Telkomsel Mitra Innovation, Future Shape, and supported by previous investors, including Jungle Ventures and Shunwei Capital.

The fresh funds will be used to strengthen the leadership team, expand and develop technology. We previously reported the Evermos series B round since August 2021, including the participation of 2 Telkom Group’s CVCs.

“Our vision is to empower one million micro-entrepreneurs in the next five years. One of the main factors influencing the way we do business is by measuring the sustainability and social impact of our platform,” Evermos’ Co-Founder & President, Arip Tirta said.

He also said that the company’s income has been mostly supported by individuals and SMEs in tier-2 and 3 cities. In order to strengthen its presence in the area, they are currently running a pilot program “Evermos Village”, involving nearly 100 villages. In this program, less productive local residents are empowered to become reseller partners — including being trained on entrepreneurial principles.

Evermos social commerce concept

Was founded in November 2018 by Arip, Ghufron Mustaqim, Iqbal Muslimin, and Ilham Taufiq; Evermos has acquired around 100 thousand active resellers in 500 cities. They partner with more than 500 brands with 90% of them coming from curated local SMEs.

The products offered are mostly Muslim clothing commodities, halal health/beauty products, food and beverages, and others — most of them prioritize halal products. From a business perspective, they claim to have grown up to 60 times in the last two years.

Evermos facilitates people who want to become resellers. These users can sell the products in the application to their network, via WhatsApp or social media. There is a profit sharing or reward applied. Evermos alone, in addition to providing products, also helps in terms of logistics management, customer support, and technology.

Evermos’ Co-Founder & Deputy CEO, Ghufron Mustaqim said that his business philosophy is based on ‘Economy Gotong Royong‘, prioritizing collaborative economic empowerment. Through the existing reseller network, Evermos wants to be a vehicle for local SMEs to grow their business, on the other hand, it will generate additional income for resellers.

Social commerce potential in Indonesia

The total GMV generated from online trading business continues to grow rapidly in Indonesia – to date, it still has the largest proportion in the region. According to Bain & Co. data, as visualized by Statista, in 2020 the total GMV for online trading businesses in Indonesia has reached $47 billion.

Although the majority come from e-commerce or online marketplaces, social commerce services have quite a big contribution, which is around $12 billion.

Meanwhile, according to McKinsey, the social commerce business is projected to experience rapid growth of up to $25 billion by 2022. Pandemic becomes one of the catalysts, this is related to changes in the way people shop and the job opportunities offered by social commerce.

UOB Venture Management’s Senior Director, Clarissa Loh explained, Evermos’ social commerce model can be a bridge in answering this gap, by enabling its resellers to market the products of local SMEs.

“The Evermos platform also empowers local brands and creates a source of income for the lower middle class people with minimal access and opportunities, but already own and use smartphones (underserved communities),” Clarissa added.

Social commerce players in Indonesia

In Indonesia, there are already several platforms that offer similar services. Throughout 2021, several other social commerce startups also received funding from investors, including:

Startup	Funding
RateS	Series A
Raena	Series A
KitaBeli	Series A, 114 billion Rupiah
Super	Series B, 405 billion Rupiah
Dagangan	Pre-Series A

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Original article is in Indonesian, translated by Kristin Siagian

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Dagangan Secures 163.7 Billion Rupiah Series A Funding, Intensifying Penetration to Tier 3 & 4 Cities

Social commerce startup Dagangan announced its series A funding worth of $11.5 million or equivalent to 163.7 billion Rupiah. The round was led by Monk’s Hill Ventures with the participation of MMS Group, K3 Ventures, Spiral Ventures, and Plug and Play.

Previously, the startup that was founded in 2019 announced a pre-series A funding with an undisclosed value from CyberAgent Capital, Spiral Ventures, 500 Startups, and Bluebird Group in June 2021.

Dagangan’s Co-Founder & CEO, Ryan Manafe revealed to DailySocial, the company has achieved revenue record in mid-2020, the trend continues today. It is suspected that various restrictions during the pandemic has resulted in the demand for daily needs online are rising.

Unlike in urban areas, people in rural areas have their own challenges in getting their daily needs online. “The situation is getting worse as accessibility issues that persist in rural areas, where retailers have to bear the cost of inefficient logistics for commuting to and from the city. Dagangan aims to address these issues and is now on the right track,” Ryan said.

He continued, “Our vision is to enable 100 million people in underserved rural areas to have easy access to quality daily necessities at affordable prices.”

The fresh money is to be used to develop private-label local products such as frozen foods, groceries, and household appliances. In addition, they will continue product development and add new features including paylater. Access to logistics services will also be sharpened, while talent acquisition efforts and partnership expansion will be enhanced.

Dagangan will intensify expansion in tier 3-4 cities and villages in Java, Sumatra, and Kalimantan.

Business challenges

To date, there are some challenges remain by the company as it started to reach tier 3-4 cities and villages. Among them is user acquisition with low technology adaptation. Education is highly needed, therefore, they are accustomed to using applications and making purchases online. The next effort was to intensify user acquisition activities offline.

“However, we are indirectly helped by social distancing awareness and user willingness to learn and adapt [to digital services]. In the future we plan to reduce the offline acquisitions by gradually switching to digital acquisitions,” Ryan said.

Another challenge is the dependence on local approaches. Therefore, companies need to build strong local teams in each area and establish partnerships.

Problem also arise on the limited logistics infrastructure. With limited infrastructure in rural areas, both suppliers and consumers face the challenge of selling and buying products. Even as e-commerce services increase, the magnitude of logistics costs is difficult to avoid. Dagangan implements Hub-and-Spoke to help solve this problem.

“This also gives us a challenge as we have to keep opening new hubs in various regions. We plan to expand our business not only to other regions, but also to other channels, such as selling our private-label products through e-commerce and export services,” Ryan added.

One of the Dagangan’s focus this year is to develop private-label products. There are many local products with great potential, but only available for the area or focused on tourists (eg bakpia in Yogyakarta). Some of these products are getting exported, but are not widely available even in Java. For people in big cities, they may be able to easily buy these products through e-commerce services, but rural markets remain underserved due to expensive logistics costs.

“This is where Dagangan comes in handy. We want to empower these products, especially those in high demand and most of the not-widely-recognized products (eg honey, brown sugar, local snacks) through our private-label products. beneficial for stakeholders, but can also increase profitability,” Ryan said.

Social commerce outsite big cities

Various social commerce startups focus on markets in rural areas. The concept offered is considered more relevant, because in general, social commerce helps empower the surrounding community as part of the business, for example becoming a reseller.

Another startup in the vertical is Super. Recently received its series B funding of IDR 405 billion in April 2021, they have operated in 17 koa in East Java. The company utilizes a hyperlocal logistics platform to distribute consumer goods to agents in less than 24 hours after ordering. Super works with thousands of agents to distribute thousands to millions of necessities every month. Most of these agents are women.

In addition, there are RateS, Evermos, KitaBeli, and others. The size of the market is tempting. According to Bain & Co. data, in 2020 the total GMV for online trading businesses in Indonesia has reached $47 billion. Although the majority come from e-commerce or online marketplaces, social commerce services have no small contribution, which is around $12 billion.

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Original article is in Indonesian, translated by Kristin Siagian

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JD.id to Strengthen Omnichannel Strategy, Expanding Offline Coverage in Greater Jakarta

JD.id to strengthen its omnichannel strategy by opening offline stores in several locations in Jabodetabek. Since 2018, JD.id aims to become the leading e-commerce platform that integrates the largest offline and online ecosystems in Indonesia through this initiative.

To date, JD.id has two flagship outlets for electronics (Electronic Store) and minimarkets (JD HUB) across Greater Jakarta. There are five JD.id Electronic Store operating, with the recent opening at AEON Mall Sentul City, Bogor. Meanwhile, JD HUB is now available in three locations, with the most recent opening at The Elements Apartment Kuningan, Jakarta.

JD.id’s Head of Offline Business, Evyette Tung said to DailySocial, JD.id’s entrance into offline stores combines an O2O strategy with objective to increase offline business sales through the online platforms, as well as increasing offline business traffic through conversion to online platform’s pick-up points.

In addition, this business strategy is also due to the company’s effort to provide convenience and comfort for consumers in choosing the shopping platform that best suits their preferences. Whether it’s buying products online in the JD.id application, then picking them up at offline stores, or choosing and buying products from the nearest offline stores, then sending them to the destination address with the “Nearby Shops” feature in the JD.id application.

Without any further detail, she said the company choose electronic and minimarket categories as they were recorded to have high demand, both before and during the pandemic.

Supported by MarkPlus Insight’s research findings entitled “Consumer Behavior of E-Commerce in 2021”, revealed the fashion and electronics categories are the product category with the highest selling value. Fashion is recorded to have the highest sales volume which is predicted to reach $10.4 billion in 2022.

Meanwhile, the electronics category has great selling value potential with the higher price range than fashion. It is predicted that the selling value is to reach $7.9 billion in 2022.

“Through JD HUB and JD.ID Electronic Store, JD.ID intends to build an integrated online and offline shopping ecosystem, therefore, to create closer interaction with consumer, has becoming a safe, fun shopping solution amid this pandemic situation,” Evyette said.

She continued, JD HUB comes with the concept of a minimarket with a strategic location, a spacious and comfortable store. Like other minimarkets, JD HUB sells various food products, packaged drinks, fresh products, and daily necessities.

Also, JD.id Electronic Store to answer consumer electronic needs, such as gadgets, laptops, home appliances, home living, and furniture. In the JD.id Electronic Store at AEON Mall Sentul City, Bogor, for example, not only display area, it also presents an experience area for gaming, smart living, kitchen, bedroom, and center of activity facilities for various JD.id events.

“These two outlets apply an O2O business strategy which is also supported by the “Nearby Shops” feature, therefore, customers can do not only face-to-face shopping, but also anytime and anywhere via their smartphones.”

After AEON Mall Sentul City, the company will launch the next 6th outlet for the JD.id Electronic Store in the Sudirman area, Jakarta in the near future. The target is yet to be revealed by the end of this year.

“This year, the development and expansion of the O2O business will still be our priority, from the development in the Greater Jakarta area, followed by development in various big cities in Indonesia,” she said.

Its presence at AEON Mall Sentul City is an implementation of the strategic collaboration between JD.id and the AEON Mall Indonesia Group. The form of this collaboration is the opening of JD.id Electronic Store outlets at several AEON locations in Jabodetabek; collaborative development of O2O outlets; development of the Nearby Shops ecosystem for AEON Mall tenants; and symbiotically bring customer traffic to each other.

Meanwhile, JD HUB is the implementation of a strategic partnership with Sinarmas Land, to fill retail spaces in Sinarmas’ projects. In addition to the development of retail space, JD.id will also provide a digital payment feature (billing payment platform) for residents in townships and Sinarmas Land projects, as well as provide a digital-marketing platform for Sinarmas Land in promoting its property products, such as residential, office, and retail space, through virtual showroom technology and webinar events.

CEO JD.id Zhang Li saat Peresmian JD.ID Electronic Store di AEON Mall Sentul City / JD.id

JD Hub – Element Apartement Kuningan / JD.id

Entering O2O segment

JD.id’s closest competitor that is also aggressively implementing an omnichannel strategy is Blibli. Although Blibli only has one offline outlet that has been operated, Blibli is also aggressively implementing an O2O strategy for its online groceries services.

It was marked by the acquisition of a 51% majority stake in Supra Boga Lestari, the operator of the Ranch Market supermarket which was announced last week (16/9). Currently Ranch Market operates 48 outlets throughout Indonesia.

In a media conference at the end of 2020, Blibli said that the daily staple category was among the best-selling. Although not detailed with numbers, the number of transactions at BlibliMart has tripled during the pandemic.

Minister of Trade, Muhammad Lutfi said, sales of fresh food products in e-commerce services will generate a value of more than Rp. 21 trillion in 2021. This is a higher number from the same period in the previous year of Rp18 trillion.

When this achievement is successfully inscribed by the ecosystem, Lutfi is steady with a projected achievement of 108 trillion Rupiah in the next five years. Obviously this is not a small number for a relatively new line of industry.

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Original article is in Indonesian, translated by Kristin Siagian

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Pluang to Offer New Asset Class Micro E-mini Nasdaq 100 Index Futures

Pluang wealthtech platform will offer the Micro E-mini Nasdaq 100 Index Futures investment asset class, a derivative futures product traded on the Chicago Merchantile Exchange (CME). This investment product adds up to the range of asset classes available in Pluang, from gold, mutual funds, crypto assets, and Micro E-mini S&P Index Futures released in November 2020.

Pluang’s Co-Founder, Richard Chua said, the Nasdaq 100 Index is an index that tracks the stock performance of the 100 largest non-financial companies on the Nasdaq exchange and is dominated by leading global technology companies. The Nasdaq 100 currently has a stock market capitalization of $15 trillion.

“Many of our customers are familiar with the brands of tech companies such as Microsoft (MSFT), Facebook (FB), Amazon (AMZN), Apple (AAPL), and Alphabet (GOOG/GOOGL). They also familiar with its product, brand and business model. Our Nasdaq 100 Index product now allows investors to directly invest,” he said in an official statement, Monday (20/9).

The Pluang Nasdaq 100 opens up opportunities for investors who want to invest in company stocks concentrated in the technology sector. The Nasdaq 100 and S&P 500 performance can also be compared to each other.

In the same period, Nasdaq value has increased by 88.4%, far outperforming the of the S&P 500 index performance. One of the triggering factors is the increase in the technology companies income as demand for tech products increases during the pandemic.

“The Nasdaq 100 exposure provides important diversification for all Indonesian investors as it consists of 102 shares issued by the 100 largest non-financial companies listed on the Nasdaq stock market. Instead of buying individual US stocks, this index helps you automatically diversify your portfolio.”

All transactions for the Micro E-Mini Nasdaq 100 Index Futures product in the Pluang application are regulated and supervised by the Commodity Futures Trading Regulatory Agency (CoFTRA), the same as the Micro E-Mini S&P 500 Index Futures product in Pluang.

The Pluang application, through PT PG Berjangka, had obtained permit for the Distribution of Customer Mandates to Foreign Exchanges (PALN) from BAPPEBTI. It is the authority to offer contracts and channel customer orders for these contracts using the system provided by the exchange.

Investors can buy Micro E-mini Nasdaq 100 Index Futures in Pluang both in Rupiah and US Dollars through wallet in the Pluang Application. Since Pluang offers the Nasdaq 100 index in the form of Micro E-mini Nasdaq 100 Index Futures, investors can start investing from IDR 300,000. This can help users to invest in the US stock market as well as diversify their portfolios with easy access and affordable prices.

Aside from Pluang, investment app players have begun to expand its asset classes to various portfolios, therefore, more users will have access to investments. Here’s the list:

Aplikasi wealthtech	Emas	Reksa Dana	Saham atau derivatif	Uang kripto	Securities crowdfunding
Bareksa	✅	✅
Pluang	✅	✅	✅	✅
Tanamduit	✅	✅
Raiz Invest		✅
E-mas	✅
Lakuemas	✅
Treasury	✅			✅
Indogold	✅
Tamasia	✅
Bibit		✅
Ajaib		✅	✅
Ipot		✅
Invisee		✅
XDana		✅
Stockbit			✅
Halofina		✅
Fundtastic		✅
Santara					✅
Bizhare					✅
LandX					✅
Crowddana					✅
Indodax				✅
Tokocrypto				✅
Pintu				✅
Luno				✅

Wealthtech platform has quite large opportunities to reach new users. As only 2% of the total productive age population in Indonesia has access to investment products in the capital market. Further detailed, the number of SID is at 5.6 million investors as of June 2021, while crypto investors reach 6.5 million people. as of May 2021.

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Original article is in Indonesian, translated by Kristin Siagian

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Asumsi Obtains Additional Funding from East Ventures, to Launch Live Streaming Platform

Asumsi digital media startup received additional funding from East Ventures. The value is said to reach $700 thousand or around 10 billion Rupiah. Previously, the startup founded by Pangeran Siahaan had secured pre-seed funding in September 2020.

Fresh funds will be focused on expanding media operations and strengthening the engineering team to create a more interactive platform. Asumsi targets to launch a live streaming platform in mid-2022. The platform is highly customizable to streamers’ needs, and viewers can access interactive features such as tipping, Q&A, and quizzes.

“As a media company with video as its main product, we recognize several limitations in interacting with viewers, especially during live streams. With the live streaming platform, Asumsi can continue to encourage the involvement of various elements of society in public spaces,” Asumsi’s Founder & CEO, Pangeran Siahaan said.

In addition, this platform will also add two new categories, Sport and Lifestyle, to complement the content that focused on politics and social issues. These two topics were chosen to broaden the audience reach and increase new commercial opportunities.

To date, Asumsi has produced a lot of content in the form of videos, articles, podcasts, newsletters, to mini content on its social media platforms. From a business perspective, they claim to have posted revenues of up to 10 times (year-on-year) since the previous funding round, with more than 10 million monthly viewers across platforms.

East Ventures’ media startup portfolios

In the East Ventures’ portfolio hypothesis, online media vertical becomes quite an attractive sector. Currently, several local media startups have received funds from the venture capitalist. Aside from Asumsi, there are also IDN Media, Katadata, and Content Collision.

“Asumsi continues to expand to provide quality news to the Indonesian people. We believe that the innovations in journalism from Panferan and his team will create greater space for all forms of diversity and democracy in Indonesia,” East Ventures’ Co-founder and Managing Partner, Willson Cuaca said.

The increasing consumption of digital media during the pandemic shows that the content presented is proven to be attractive to viewers, readers and advertisers. Based on the GWI report in 2020, viewers are now often watching television content through streaming applications on their gadgets. This reflects the huge potential of the media market, which is projected to grow from $1.7 billion in 2020 to $2.6 billion in 2025, globally.

The largest GMV generated from the digital industry in Indonesia (in $ billion), online media is one of them

According to the e-Conomy SEA 2020 report, online media is one of the biggest GMV contributors to digital businesses in Indonesia. By 2020 its value has reached $4.4 billion, will grow to $10 billion by 2025 at a CAGR of 18%. The online media coverage here includes OTT services and digital media.

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Original article is in Indonesian, translated by Kristin Siagian

Blibli Aquires Ranch Market’s Majority Stake, Enhancing Online Grocery Vertical

PT Global Digital Niaga, also known as Blibli is to acquire a majority stake in PT Supra Boga Lestari, the company that operates Ranch Market. Based on the disclosure on the IDX, both parties have signed a Share Purchase Binding Agreement (PPPS) with a plan to take over 797,888,628 shares or equivalent to 51% of the total issued and fully paid capital.

The strategic action is interpreted as Blibli’s effort to strengthen the value proposition of its grocery service, BlibliMart. In a media conference in late 2020, the company said the daily staple category was among the best-selling throughout the year. Without mentioning detail numbers, it is described that the number of purchases at BlibliMart increased by 3 times during the pandemic.

Similar to a supermarket, BlibliMart’s main products are basic necessities such as rice, sugar, cooking oil, etc. For business process efficiency, they have certain branch offices (including warehouses) in several cities covering Jabodetabek and several areas in East Java. Expansion effort has been generated, in terms of groceries, it is mostly same day delivery; In addition, there are several types of products that cannot last long in shipping, such as meat or fresh ingredients.

As of 2020, Blibli has operated 20 warehouses and 32 hub points in 15 major cities. He said, the presence of this logistics infrastructure allows the company to serve consumers at the national level.

They also continue to strengthen features, its latest innovation is a subscription option, therefore consumers can cut cost on every shopping for daily necessities in the BlibliMart category. This option provides two advantages. First, it is a fixed price, customers will be charged the same price even if there is a price change during the subscription period.

Moreover, it is a fixed discount, customers will be charged the same percent or nominal discount even if there is a price change during the subscription period. Both can be selected with a subscription period of up to 54 weeks for a weekly frequency subscription and 12 months with a monthly frequency option.

Blibli’s VP Trade Partnership ,Stephanie Santoso said, the current market trend in Indonesia is the company’s reason to release the Subscription feature.

Ranch Market property

Since its establishment in 1997, the company currently operates 48 stores, consisting of 16 Ranch Markets, 29 Farmers Markets, 1 The Gourmet by Ranch Market and 2 Day2Day by Farmers Market. The modern retail stores are located across several cities in Greater Jakarta, Surabaya, Malang, Balikpapan, Samarinda, Pekanbaru, Ambon, Dumai, and Palembang.

To begin with, Ranch Market was a franchise format from Ranch Market USA. However, along with its development, there have been many improvements made regarding adjustments to the local market and consumer characteristics. Until 2010, the company terminated the license agreement with Ranch Market USA, and since then the company has obtained permission to use the Ranch Market brand in Indonesia.

There are several advantages, indeed, that BlibliMart can get from the following synergies. In addition to the grocery retail store properties owned and its coverage, the practice of supply-chain fresh products for daily needs can also be applied to provide better service. Online to offline scenarios can also be applied to bring new experiences to customers.

Online grocery valuation

Minister of Trade’s, Muhammad Lutfi mentioned, fresh food product sales in the online marketplace will generate a value of more than 21 trillion Rupiah in 2021, an increase of 18 trillion Rupiah compared to the previous year period. When this achievement successfully inscribed by the ecosystem, he is also steady with a projected achievement of 108 trillion Rupiah in the next five years. Obviously this is no small number for a relatively new line of industry.

This potential is certainly improtant to local innovators. Various startups are competing to become market leaders in the sector, including full effort to gain fund injecton from investors. Based on DailySocial.id’s report, there have been 10 investments since Q2 2020 [the early period of the pandemic], including:

Periode	Startup	Investasi
Agustus 2021	Pasarnow	Pendanaan Awal
Agustus 2021	Segari	Seri A
Juli 2021	HappyFresh	Seri D
Apri 2021	Sayurbox	Seri B
Maret 2021	Dropezy	Pendanaan Awal
Maret 2021	Segari	Pendanaan Awal
Maret 2021	Eden Farm	Pendanaan Awal
Agustus 2020	Wahyoo (meluncurkan Langganan.co.id)	Seri A
Juli 2020	BorongBareng	Pra-Seri A
Maret 2020	Chilibeli	Seri A

In addition to digital platforms that specifically provide fresh product ordering services, local unicorns are also flocking to strengthen their online grocery vertical.

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Original article is in Indonesian, translated by Kristin Siagian

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TADA Welcomes Funding from Giftee, Now Available in Malaysia and Vietnam

TADA loyalty and rewards platform announced additional funding from Giftee, Inc., an end-to-end Japanese e-gift company, with an undisclosed amount. Fresh funds will be allocated for further technology upgrades, as well as expanding its presence in regional markets.

TADA is Giftee, Inc.’s second portfolio in Southeast Asia after AdEasy, a Malaysian startup in July 2020.

Giftee is an end-to-end e-gift platform that provides solutions from issuance to distribution since 2010. The company has been listed on the Japanese stock exchange since 2019. In 2018, the company expanded to Malaysia (Giftee Malaysia) and available in Vietnam three years (Giftee Mekong) through a joint venture between Giftee Malaysia and Mekong Communications.

TADA and Giftee are companies with a cross-cutting business focus. TADA focuses on loyalty and rewards platforms that enable businesses to build deep relationships with customers to employees. In addition, TADA connects businesses to collaborate on its network. The company has served more than 400 clients across multiple verticals. Among the popular names are AXA, Allianz, DBS, UOB, Castrol, Exxon, Kalbe Nutritionals, Erha Dermatology, and many more.

This investment also marks TADA’s expansion into Malaysia and Vietnam since last August. In its early stages, TADA platform is connected to the e-gift services Giftee Malaysia and Giftee Mekong. The new solution is expected to help increase customer loyalty in each country. Furthermore, the Giftee Group will expand its business solutions with TADA in other countries in Southeast Asia.

In an official statement, TADA’s CEO, Antonius Taufan said his team is very optimistic that the partnership with Giftee will be able to offer a smart and complete solution for loyalty programs in various business landscapes. “With this funding, Giftee’s expertise, and a strong market fit, we are confident that TADA will double down on product innovation and seek to aggressively expand our presence internationally,” he said, Thursday (16/9).

Giftee’s CEO, Mutsumi Ota added, “TADA is one of the leading loyalty and reward platforms, offering a variety of features, including subscriptions, memberships and referrals. “Through this capital and business alliance, we are looking forward to collaborating with TADA, especially in the Southeast Asia region, by connecting the e-gift platform business, e-gift service and TADA platform,” Ota said.

In April, TADA announced Series B1 funding led by MDI Ventures, with the involvement of Telkomsel Mitra Innovation (TMI) and previous investors, Finch Capital and Sovereign Capital.

Loyalty program

Loyalty sector is not really startup’s cup of tea. Besides TADA, there are GetPlus, Member.id, and OttoPoint. Earlier this year Member.id just announced series A funding from East Ventures and Traveloka. OttoPoint is part of the fintech division of the OttoDigital Group, a subsidiary of the Salim Group.

Industrially, loyalty programs are one of the sustainable and long-term oriented marketing strategies. Companies can also find out customer insight through the program. According to research by Wirecard, 75% of customers decide to make a purchase after receiving a reward from a certain brand.

In addition, the rewards received by customers trigger them to make more purchases. Almost all respondents said that after having a good loyalty program experience, they are more willing to receive offers and notifications from the brand. In fact, they are willing to follow the brand’s social media accounts, after getting positive rewards from the brand.

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Original article is in Indonesian, translated by Kristin Siagian

Indosat and Tri Officially Announces 85.6 Trillion Rupiah Merger

PT Indosat Ooredoo Tbk (IDX:ISAT) officially announced a merger with PT Hutchison 3 Indonesia (H3I) with an agreed value of $6 billion or 85.6 trillion Rupiah. Through its parent company Ooredoo Group and CK Hutchison, both companies will merge into “Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison”.

Currently, Ooredoo Group owns 65% of Indosat Ooredoo shares through Ooredoo Asia. Through this merger, CK Hutchison will acquire 21.8% of Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison. CK Hutchison will also acquire 50% of Ooredoo Asia by exchanging its 21.8% shares in Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison for 33% in Ooredoo Asia.

The Hong Kong-based telecommunications conglomerate will grab an additional 16.7% in the Ooredoo Group for $387 million or IDR 5.5 trillion. Both parties will have a 50% ownership interest in Ooredoo Asia, which will be named Ooredoo Hutchison Asia, and own 65.6% shares and control over Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison.

In terms of post-merger, Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison will remain listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX), with the Indonesian government holding 9.6% of the shares, PT Tiga Telekomunikasi Indonesia 10.8% of the shares, and the public about 14% of the shares.

Indosat Ooredoo shareholders recommended Vikram Sinha and Nicky Lee as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) at Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison, respectively. Moreover, Ahmad Al-Neama and Cliff Woo will remain the President Director & CEO of Indosat Ooredoo and CEO of H3I until the merger process is complete.

Aiming for the second place

Considering its scale, financial capabilities, expertise, and network development, Ooredoo Group’s Managing Director, Aziz Aluthman Fakhroo targets this consolidation to bring Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison as the second largest telecommunications operator in Indonesia with projected annual revenues of up to $3 billion.

In addition, the merger of the two company assets will directly provide benefits to cost efficiency and capital expenditure. The company estimates that the synergies’ annual run rate before tax will reach $300-400 million in the next three to five years.

With the giant business scale owned by the two parent companies, Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison can take advantage of the technology, network, and services owned by the Ooredoo Group and CK Hutchison in the European, Middle East, North Africa and Asia Pacific markets.

“The merger will provide benefits for various functions, including procurement activities. After this consolidation, the Indonesian mobile market is expected to maintain healthy competition. This situation will attract long-term investment for the telecommunications industry,” Aziz said in his official statement.

CK Hutchison Holdings’ Group Co-Managing Director, Canning Fok also said his team can also expand the network and improve service quality in line with the merger of a larger spectrum that will provide cost efficiency.

“Furthermore, we are looking forward to bring the most innovative 5G service to Indonesia at the right time. Currently, CK Hutchison has available in 12 countries, many of which have successfully deployed 5G networks,” he said.

Currently, H3I has 10MHz in the 1800MHz band and 15MHz in 2100MHz to serve 39 million subscribers. Meanwhile, Indosat has a spectrum of 2.5MHz (850MHz), 10MHz (900MHz), 20MHz (1800MHz), and 15MHz (2100MHz) to serve 60 million subscribers with 66,313 4G BTS.

Consolidation for efficiency

The corporate action by Indosat Ooredoo and Hutchison adds to the long list of Indonesian telecommunications operators with M&A history within this decade. Previously, the M&A action was taken by PT Mobile-8 Tbk (FREN) annexing PT Smart Telecom and merging into Smartfren. Then, it was followed by PT XL Axiata Tbk (EXCL) which acquired Axis for IDR 8.6 trillion.

The Ministry of Communication and Information (Kominfo) has made attempts to encourage the telecommunications industry to consolidate, both through M&A and network cooperation. It is due to the very tight competition in the telecommunications industry involving many players.

Meanwhile, the telecommunications business is considered investment-intensive as it has to build network infrastructure. In fact, the growth of the telecommunications industry is increasingly stagnant when cellular penetration is above 100%. The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) recorded that cellular card users reached 341.28 million in 2019, or already surpassed the total population of 269.6 million.

According to the Secretary General of the Center for Telecommunication Policy and Regulatory Studies at the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) Muhammad Ridwan Effendi, the merger by Indosat Ooredoo and Hutchison 3 Indonesia will provide significant benefits for the telecommunications industry. One thing is because operators can now encourage business efficiency, especially in network development.

“Although we have to wait for the post-audit results by the Business Competition Supervisory Commission (KPPU), this merger is appropriate as the operator’s capital and assets will increase. Hopefully, the community will get even greater benefits from this business merger.” He said in a discussion with DailySocial.id team.

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Original article is in Indonesian, translated by Kristin Siagian

Xendit’s Latest Funding of 2.1 Trillion Rupiah Confirms Its Unicorn Status

Xendit announced the series C funding of $150 million or equivalent to 2.1 trillion Rupiah. This round also settled the company’s valuation above $1 billion and made Xendit the next “unicorn” startup in Indonesia.

The investment was led by Tiger Global Management with the participation of a series of investors, including Accel, Amasia, and Goat Capital. With this fresh funding, Xendit plans to innovate on its product range, aiming expansion to selected countries in Southeast Asia.

The Xendit fintech platform has started to be available in the Philippines. To solidify its debut, the company recently invested in local payments startup, Dragonpay.

“We are seeing a major shifting to digital that almost all businesses, from small shop owners on Instagram, to the largest companies in Indonesia [..] Xendit’s digital payments infrastructure allows businesses to receive payments faster,” Xendit’s Founder & CEO, Moses Lo said.

Previously, Xendit closed its $64.6 million Series B funding round in March 2021 and was led by Accel. With this latest funding, they have raised IDR 3.4 trillion ($238 million) in total since the first round in 2015.

“Xendit recorded a total payout volume increase of more than 200% yoy in Indonesia and the Philippines, continuing our growing track record by more than 10% month-on-month, since our debut. Our new unicorn status will help strengthen the core mission as our guide,” Xendit’s Co-Founder & COO, Tessa Wijaya added.

Beyond fintech

Xendit’s core solution is a payment gateway, enabling businesses to have a digital payment infrastructure, either integrated into the backend system (for example in e-commerce or other services such as online travel) or used directly through the provided application (for example for social commerce).

Realizing the huge potential of MSMEs in Indonesia, Xendit is also developing SaaS products to help micro-small businesses digitize business processes, beyond pure fintech products. Most recently, they provide a product inventory service to make it easier for business owners to synchronize between online platforms for sales.

Additional capital will also be channeled to increase Xendit’s penetration into the MSME segment. Various specific features and services will be rolled out, in addition to strengthening the capabilities of existing products such as capital loans, chargeback insurance, to fraud prevention.

“Xendit’s digital payment infrastructure which designed specifically for Southeast Asia is now the new standard for the financial industry in the region. By providing a reliable and secure payment gateway, Xendit has paved the way to a digital economy for businesses,” Tiger Global Management’s Partner, Alex Cook said.

On the other hand, Xedit also has a special product Instamoney, as an API service to help businesses provide remittance features. Several platforms have used this system, such as Wise and MoneyGram.

Indonesia’s unicorn

Looking at the startup ecosystem in Indonesia today, it seems that in the future we will continue to welcome a new generation of unicorns. One of the reason is that there are dozens of startups with centaur valuations – while global and local investors are also increasingly eager to inject their funds.

Based on our data, there are currently a total of 10 startups have been confirmed as unicorns. Several players have the potential to follow in the near future with valuations above $500 million, including SiCepat, Kopi Kenangan, Ruangguru, and Akulaku.

Perusahaan	Est. Valuasi
Gojek-Tokopedia	$18 miliar
Traveloka	~$3 miliar
Bukalapak	~$3 miliar
OVO	~$2,9 miliar
JD.id (dikonfirmasi perusahaan)	undisclosed
Blibli (dikonfirmasi perusahaan)	undisclosed
Tiket.com (dikonfirmasi perusahaan)	~$1 miliar
Kredivo*	$2,5 miliar
Xendit	~$1 miliar

*assuming the merger process to go public via SPAC has been completed

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Original article is in Indonesian, translated by Kristin Siagian