Inc42 Daily Brief
Stay Ahead With Daily News & Analysis on India’s Tech & Startup Economy
The emerging economy of Indonesia is not the biggest but definitely one of the fastest. Inc42 brings you this week’s inside scoop in the archipelago’s startup ecosystem.
Indonesia-focussed VC firm Kejora Ventures has raised its second fund, Kejora Star Capital II fund, worth $80 Mn.
As per a report by Deal Street Asia, primary investors in the fund included Barito Pacific Group, the Charoen Pokphand family and Hubert Burda Media.
Jakarta-based Kejora was founded in 2013 by Andy Zain and Sebastian Togelang. It is a stage-agnostic firm that focusses on startups belonging primarily to sectors including fintech, SMEs, SaaS, B2B, logistics, ecommerce, marketplace, digital media, big data, and edtech.
VC firm Kejora claims to help startup founders to launch technology companies in large and high-growth market verticals. It offers capital, shared infrastructure and resources, access to the right network of strategic partners and investors.
Budget hotel provider NIDA Rooms has reportedly secured $5.6 Mn in its Series A round of funding led by private investment firm Shanda Group.
The company plans to deploy the raised funds towards opening services in Singapore, a report by Deal Street Asia said.
Founded in 2015 by Kaneswaran Avili and Dennis Melka, the startup is focussed on transforming inconsistent budget hotels into a consistent customer experience. It provides budget hotels across many Southeast Asian countries. It partners with hotels and issues a standardised branding and service guidelines for the rooms sold via its platform through mobile/web.
In September 2015, it raised an undisclosed amount in Seed funding. In November 2015, it raised $1.3 Mn from True Capital Partners and East Pacific Capital Pvt. Ltd. In April 2016, it raised $4.2 Mn from Convergence Ventures and Cyberagent Ventures.
Indonesia-based online printing portal Printerous has raised $1.4 Mn in its Pre-Series A round led by Golden Gate Ventures. Sovereign’s Capital and Gunung Sewu Kencana also participated in the round.
The startup plans to use the raised funds for customer acquisition and retention, as per an e27 report. It further plans to expand in other Southeast Asian countries as well.
Printerous was launched in 2012 by Osmond, Christian Soeseno Boenarso, and David Soong and connects potential customers to printing shops that offer various printing services for both businesses and individuals. It also offers services in custom design projects for products such as business cards, office stationery, marketing materials, clothing items, packaging, and merchandises.
Indonesian ride hailing giant Go-Jek has launched a new mobile app for its lifestyle division, Go-Life.
The features of the app were previously integrated within the Go-Jek app itself along with ride hailing and courier services. The offered services included Go-Massage (home spa and massage service booking), Go-Clean (house-cleaning service booking), Go-Auto (vehicle maintenance service booking), and Go-Glam (beautician booking service).
The new app is up and running on Android and iOS, but currently does not support the Go-Pay feature, as per a report by e27.
Note: We at Inc42 take our ethics very seriously. More information about it can be found here.