Jakarta-based foodtech startup Qraved, founded by entrepreneur Steven Kim, closed an $8 million Series B round of funding co-led by the U.S.-based Richmond Global Ventures and Gobi Partners from Shanghai, with participation from Endeavor Catalyst. Launched in September 2013, Qraved has quickly grown to be Indonesia’s leading food discovery platform, providing 1M+ monthly active users with restaurant information, reviews, recommended dishes with photos, promotions, and an instant booking facility.
The injection of capital will go toward building out Qraved’s mobile and web apps with new features, expanding the firm in Indonesia, and ramping up marketing efforts. Qraved is Richmond’s first investment in Southeast Asia. Richmond’s Managing Partner Peter Kellner is also co-founder of Endeavor.
Qraved co-founder and CEO Steven Kim said, “In the past 18 months there has been a significant amount of news in the foodtech space, with players mentioning their expansion plans [into] Indonesia. Yet they have not been successful […] with this round, Qraved will be focusing on Indonesia, making it the largest commitment for Indonesia in the space even compared to global or regional players. It will only get more difficult for new entrants due to the uniqueness of the market.”
Selected into the Endeavor network in 2015, co-founder and CEO Steven Kimwas born in Korea, spent his youth in the United States, and earned his MBA from INSEAD. He also met David Frazee from Richmond Global – the lead investor of this financing round – during the Singapore International Selection Panel.
Original article here by Endeavor
Disclaimer: Qraved is a portfolio company of Convergence Ventures