TechInAsia.com
While there has been an increased number of startup funding rounds in Indonesia in recent years, the archipelago’s investment scene is mysterious because the majority of funding news features undisclosed amounts of capital. Occasionally, Tech in Asia will get wind of a specific number, but more often we just get clues like “seven-figure amount” or a “significant series A” investment, but not too often. Because of this, quantifying the best-funded startups in Indonesia is nearly impossible – perhaps like trying to bake a cake using a recipe with no measurements.
The term “best-funded” also carries a vague definition, as different startups have different financial needs for stable growth. US$1 million is probably not a sustainable investment to big boys like Lazada Indonesia or Traveloka, but it’s more than enough for smaller firms like Female Daily Network to scale up. With this in mind, we’ve put together a list of Indonesian startups based on a couple checkboxes.
The criteria to have made this list is the amount of observable growth a startup has seen relative to the number of funding rounds it has closed. Keep in mind that these picks are subjective and in no particular order (raising money doesn’t necessarily equate to success). Tech in Asia invites you to join in by including names of companies you think deserve honorable mention in the comments below.
- BukaLapak
BukaLapak is a consumer-to-consumer ecommerce marketplace that directly competes with the likes of Tokopedia. It’s clear that BukaLapak doesn’t have as much cash as its competitor, but it has seen consistent funding and considerable growth. Back in July 2011, the company – which was born from local digital agency Suitmedia – closed a seed round with a Jakarta incubator called Batavia, which was run by Rebright Partners and local financial firm Corfina Group. Batavia Incubator no longer exists, but BukaLapak sure does. At the time of funding, the site was already receiving more than 9 million monthly pageviews.
In September 2012, BukaLapak got another hit of venture funding when it secured a series A round from Gree Ventures after adding a new payment system that allowed visitors to use Bank Mandiri’s Clickpay.
In February 2014, the firm announced a series B round of funding from Aucfan, IREP, 500 Startups, and once again Gree Ventures. BukaLapak also received investment from Japan’s IMJ Investment Partners at some point.
- Stage: Series B, undisclosed by Aucfan, IREP, 500 Startups, and Gree Ventures
- Total Disclosed Funding: None
- Investors: Rebright Partners, Corfina Group, Aucfan, IREP, 500 Startups, Gree Ventures, IMJ Investment Partners
- More: BukaLapak on Techlist
- Adskom
Adskom was one of the few Indonesian startups to get funded in the pre-product stage. In May 2013, co-founders Daniel Armanto and Italo Gani announced seed funding from Japan’s Rebright Partners to build an automated supply-side platform that aggregated digital advertising spots for customers to choose from.
The company has seen significant growth since then, as Adskom reported managing about 500 million monthly ad impressions last August. The same month, Adskom received a US$850,000 series A investment from Japan’s Digital Garage, East Ventures, Beenos Plaza, and Skystar Capital.
- Stage: Series A, US$850,000 by Digital Garage, East Ventures, Beenos Plaza, and Skystar Capital
- Total Disclosed Funding: US$850,000
- Investors: Rebright Partners, Digital Garage, East Ventures, Beenos Plaza, Skystar Capital
- More: Adskom on Techlist
- Traveloka
Traveloka is the quietest company in Indonesia that is also a potential unicorn. Founder Ferry Unardi dropped out of Harvard before coming back to Indonesia and starting the ticket booking site in 2012 and received seed funding from East Ventures a couple months into operations.
Traveloka had been around for less than a year when it subsequently nabbed a series A round in September 2013 from Global Founders Capital, a VC firm co-founded by Rocket Internet’s Samwer brothers. In December the same year, Traveloka reported processing two million flight searches.
- Stage: Series A, undisclosed by Global Founders Capital
- Total Disclosed Funding:None
- Investors: East Ventures, Global Founders Capital
- More: Traveloka on Techlist
- Touchten
Touchten Games is one of Indonesia’s most successful mobile game developers to date. Founded by Anton Soeharyo, Touchten helped pioneer the gaming culture in Indonesia, starting back in August 2011 when it closed a series A round of funding with local VC firm Ideosource, headed by Andi Boediman.
It became clear that Touchten was growing after it broke into the top five in the US App Store in February 2013 with its hit title Train Legend. Touchten’s other games Infinite Sky and Sushi Chain also made the list.
In November 2013, Touchten closed a series B round of funding led by CyberAgent Ventures and followed by TMS Entertainment and a fund managed by UOB Venture Management.
- Stage: Series B, undisclosed by CyberAgent Ventures, TMS Entertainment, and UOB Venture Management
- Total Disclosed Funding: None
- Investors: Ideosource, CyberAgent Ventures, TMS Entertainment, UOB Venture Management
- More: Touchten on Techlist
- CekAja
CekAja is a Jakarta-based fintech startup that lets Indonesians compare a wide variety of financial products including personal loans, credit cards, deposits, and syariah (deposit that follows Islamic principles). Founder John Patrick Ellis has been able to grab funding at various stages along the way from local VC firm Mountain SEA Ventures and Compare88, a financial comparison company that serves all of Southeast Asia.
The site has been live since late 2013 and has already partnered with local banks and financial institutions like BNI, OCBC NISP, PaninBank, HSBC, ANZ, and PermataBank. The CekAja app is available on Google Play.
- Stage: Seed, undisclosed by Compare88 and Mountain SEA Ventures
- Total Disclosed Funding: None
- Investors: Compare 88, Mountain SEA Ventures
- More: CekAja on Techlist
- Tokopedia
No list about Indonesian funding would be complete without mentioning Tokopedia, one of the archipelago’s most popular consumer-to-consumer marketplaces, and the company that set the record for the largest funding round in Indonesian tech startup history.
It’s been a long journey for Tokopedia, though. After starting the company in 2007, founder William Tanuwijaya bootstrapped the venture for two years before raising seed funding from PT Indonusa Dwitama in 2009. In March of 2010, Tokopedia grabbed a series A round from East Ventures, followed by a US$700,000 series B investment from CyberAgent Ventures in April 2011 for 10 percent equity. This brought the company’s valuation to US$7 million.
One year later, Tokopedia grabbed fresh funding from Netprice (which later changed its name to Beenos) after facilitating 13.4 million sales based on revenue that flowed through its escrow service in a 12-month period. In June 2013, the marketplace attracted another investment, this time led by Softbank Ventures Korea, and again followed by CyberAgent Ventures and East Ventures.
Finally, last October Tokopedia pulled in a whopping US$100 million from SoftBank and Sequoia Capital. Tanuwijaya claims the site currently receives about 10 million visitors per month and sold 24 million products in its fourth year of operations.
- Stage: Series E, US$100 million by SoftBank Internet and Media and Sequoia Capital
- Total Disclosed Funding: US$100.7 million
- Investors: PT Indonusa Dwitama, CyberAgent Ventures, Beenos, Softbank Ventures Korea, East Ventures, SoftBank Internet and Media, Sequoia Capital
- More: Tokopedia on Techlist
- MalesBanget
MalesBanget is one of Indonesia’s popular viral humor sites featuring articles and videos that are hyperlocalized for an Indonesian audience. Currently, MalesBanget operates under MBDC Media, and the site’s origin story – which involves Indonesian celebrity and site co-founder Christian Sugiono – dates back to 2001.
After a decade of existence and only causal maintenance, the company decided to get serious and grabbed its first round of funding from Nusantara Capital Incubator in 2011. More recently, MBDC Media received a series A investment from Rebright Partners and 500 Startups. The site is well on its way to a million visitors per month, as SimilarWeb estimates MalesBanget saw 710,000 visitors last month, up from 530,000 just the month before.
- Stage: Series A, undisclosed by Rebright Partners and 500 Startups
- Total Disclosed Funding: None
- Investors: Nusantara Capital Incubator, Rebright Partners, 500 Startups
- More: MalesBanget on Techlist
- BerryBenka
BerryBenka has been around for a while, having originally set itself up as a small online fashion store in mid-2011. The company secured seed funding from East Ventures in March the following year, and has since increased its offerings to more than 500 brands.
In January of 2013, the site grabbed series A funding from Gree Ventures to up its range of products, improve logistics, and inject more marketing fuel. In November the same year, the company received a US$5 million series B round from TransCosmos, which it then used to incorporate cash-on-delivery and one-day delivery options, launch mobile apps, and increase personalization for the user experience. SimilarWeb estimates the site received 730,000 visitors last month.
- Stage: Series B, $5,000,000 by Gree Ventures and Transcosmos
- Total Disclosed Funding: $5,000,000
- Investors: Gree Ventures, East Ventures, Transcosmos
- More: BerryBenka on Techlist
- Qraved
Qraved was co-founded by Rocket Internet alumni Adrian Li and Steven Kim and has been called Indonesia’s first restaurant reservation app. In September 2013, the company raised seed funding from Rebright Partners, 500 Startups, and Skype co-founder Toivo Annus to expand the site as a restaurant directory and social network for foodies.
Between July and December last year, SimilarWeb estimates that Qraved was able to triple its web traffic to reach 90,000 monthly visitors, making it number one in the Indonesian foodtech market.
In November last year, Qraved announced a US$1.3 million series A funding round from Convergence Accel, a new VC firm spearheaded by Qraved’s co-founder Adrian Li, and followed by M&Y Growth Partners.
- Stage: Series A, US$1,300,000 by Convergence Accel and M&Y Growth Partners
- Total Disclosed Funding: US$1,300,000
- Investors: Rebright Partners, 500 Startups, Toivo Annus, Convergence Accel, M&Y Growth Partners
- More: Qraved on Techlist
- VIP Plaza
VIP Plaza is a flash sales site focused on mid-range brands like Levi’s, Guess, and Nike. The site puts new items on sale daily – with discounts of 30 to 80 percent – at 10am. The deals last for only seven days. Established by local tech entrepreneur and former director of Rakuten Indonesia Tesong Kim and fellow co-founder Yoga Sugeharto, VIP Plaza launched just last February with funding right out of the gate from CyberAgent Ventures, and has seen a steady increase in traffic.
In less than a year, the site was able to round up more than 260 partner clothing brands and employ more than 75 people. Kim claims the site is growing so fast that it sees around 2.5 million monthly pageviews and VIP Plaza employs one new person every three days.
- Stage: Seed, undisclosed by CyberAgent Ventures
- Total Disclosed Funding: None
- Investors: CyberAgent Ventures
- More: VIP Plaza on Techlist
Original article by Leighton Cosseboom
4:51 pm on Jan 20, 2015
Editing by Terence Lee and Paul Bischoff; lead image from basibanget
Disclosure: Qraved.com is a portfolio member of Convergence Ventures