Investors’ Favourites: Ten Most Funded Startups In Indonesia

As part of our Startups Indonesia Series, we bring to you the 10 favorite startups of the investors of the island nation.

The time has come to accept that Asia is leading the world in terms of tech investment growth, with investors preferring it over the western nations. India and China are the frontrunners in the fundraising race, despite an overall slowdown in the capital raising process at the homefront. Southeast Asia, on the other hand, has proven to be Asia’s Trojan horse. It has been gaining significant attention from investors, the numbers prove that investors are approaching Southeast Asian startups for growth.

Raising funds for startups today feels like filling a war chest before the approaching battle. The numbers you score play an important role in determining your venture’s growth trajectory to a significant length. If done right, it can lead to lucrative partnerships with angel investors and venture capitalists.

Most of the startups that are attracting Venture Capitalists’ attention and money belong to the ecommerce sector, as local Indonesian players dominate the market, especially in the niche segments. The potential of ecommerce in Indonesia has already tempted many players, both foreign and local, to enter the market. It would be interesting to know who emerges as the clear winner in the funding race.

Let your curiosity be quenched with all the details you need, to find your way around these major players. We have included startups that are currently operational and have disclosed their funding amounts to the public.

Investors’ Favorite: Most Funded Startups From Indonesia

Go-Jek

Founded In: 2009

Founder(s): Michaelangelo Moran and Dayu Dara Permata

Sectors: Logistics, transportation, and delivery.

Headquarters: Jakarta

Funding: In October 2015, it raised an undisclosed amount from DST Global, NSI Ventures, and Sequoia Capital. Following that, in August 2016, it raised $550 Mn in a round led by KKR & Co.(Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.) and Warburg Pincus. Other investors in the round were existing investors and Capital Group, Farallon Capital Management, Formation Group, Northstar Group, and Rakuten.

It is the on-demand motorbike taxi service that rivals Uber and Grab in Indonesia. Go-Jek claims to offer 200,000 motorbike drivers — known as “ojeks” in Indonesia. The company’s services include hailing motorbike taxis on demand. In addition to regular rides, Go-Jek offers on-demand services like food, shopping, and package deliveries.

MatahariMall

Founded In: 2014

Founder(s): Hadi Wenas

Sectors: Ecommerce, retail & fashion

Headquarters: Jakarta

Funding: In February 2015, it raised $500 Mn in equity led by Lippo Group.

MatahariMall is an Indonesian ecommerce platform that covers the fashion, health and beauty, electronics, home, groceries, books, and entertainment categories. MatahariMall is the first online-to-offline ecommerce site in Southeast Asia. This means that people can place orders online, then go to a Matahari department store to pick up the goods later.

Tokopedia

Founded In: 2009

Founder(s): William Tanuwijaya, Leontinus Alpha Edison

Sectors: Ecommerce

Headquarters: Jakarta

Funding: In February 2009, it raised an undisclosed amount in Seed funding from indonusa Dwitama. In March 2010, it raised undisclosed money in its Series A round of funding from East Ventures. In April 2011, it secures $700K from CyberAgent Ventures in Series B. It raised an undisclosed amount in its Series C round from Beenos Partners in April 2012.

In June 2013, it raised an undisclosed amount in Series D round led by Japan’s SoftBank. Other investors in the round were CyberAgent Ventures and East Ventures. Following that, in October 2014, it secured $100 Mn in Series E led by SoftBank Telecom. Other investors were Sequoia Capital and Softbank Ventures Korea.

In April 2016, it secured $147 Mn in Series E from undisclosed investors.

It is Indonesia’s C2C marketplace and is claimed to be Indonesia’s fastest growing ecommerce marketplace. It connects consumers with small retailers and individual sellers and acts as an intermediary platform for their transactions to facilitate.

Qoo10 Indonesia

Founded In: 2011

Founder(s): Ku Young Bae

Sectors: Ecommerce

Headquarters: Selatan, Jawa Timur, Indonesia

Funding: In July 2015, it raised $82 Mn in Series A round led by Singapore Press Holdings. Other investors in the round were Brookside Capital, eBay, Oak Investment Partners, Saban Capital Group, and UVM 2 Venture Investments.

It is an ecommerce site operating all across Asia, with its headquarters in Indonesia.  The ecommerce giant is the result of a joint venture between eBay and Ku Young Bae, the founder of Gmarket. Qoo10 operates its ecommerce marketplace in Singapore, Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and China. The firm claims to have 17.6 Mn registered users across the region, with a combined total of$408 Mn in gross merchandise value (GMV) in 2014.

Elevenia

Founded In: 2013

Founder(s): James Lee

Sectors: Ecommerce and fashion

Headquarters: Jakarta, Jakarta Raya

Funding: In March 2015, it secured $18.3 Mn from SK Planet and XL Axiata Tbk. Following that, in June 2016, it raised $50 Mn from existing investors.

It is Indonesia’s open ecommerce marketplace. Elevenia is a joint venture between XL Axiata and SK Planet. It was modelled after SK Telecom’s 11street. As of 2016, Elevenia claims to have done an average of 20,000 transactions per day, with more than 4Mn products available and 2 Mn members registered.

Lazada Indonesia

Founded In: 2012

Founder(s): Fung Lestario, Sundeep Sahni, and Bede Moore

Sectors: Ecommerce

Headquarters: Jakarta, Jakarta Raya

Funding: It raised $40 Mn in its Series A round of funding from Rocket Internet and Summit Partners in November 2012.

Lazada is an ecommerce platform that functions as an online mall in Indonesia. Currently, Lazada claims to offer more than 50,000 products in more than 4000 categories, ranging from electronic, gadget, computer, home & living, fashion, health & beauty, and travel & luggage.

Baca

Founded In: 2015

Founder(s): Jimmy Sie

Sectors: News & Media

Headquarters: Indonesia

Funding: In July 2016, it raised $20 Mn in funding in a Series B round led by Bertelsmann Asia Investment Fund. Chenchao Zhuang and Crystal Stream Capital also participated in the round.

Baca is a news reader app for Indonesia. It claims to have 1 Mn daily active users in Indonesia. Each day the app collects between 20,000 to 25,000 articles from 500 publications. Baca analyses which news gets read by the app users, and serves them content based on those preferences.

Orami

Founded In: 2016

Founder(s): Ferry Tenka, Shannon Kalayanamitr, Eka Himawan

Sector: Ecommerce & Fashion

Headquarters: Jakarta

Funding: In February 2016, it raised $15 Mn led by SMDV. Other investors included Ardent Capital, Gobi Partners, and Velos Partners. It also raised an undisclosed amount in April 2016 in its Series B round.

It is an ecommerce company that claims to cater to all the household needs of an individual. It currently provides services in both Indonesia and Thailand in housing, kitchen, fashion, mother and child, furniture, and gadgets verticals among others.

HaloDoc

Founded In: 2015

Founder(s): Jonathan Sudharta

Sectors: Healthcare

Headquarters: Jakarta

Funding: In September 2016, it raised $13 Mn in Series A funding led by Clermont Group. Other investors in the round were Bibli, Go-Jek, and NSI Ventures.

HaloDoc is a healthcare network platform that claims to connect users to a network of 18,600 licensed doctors, 1,000 certified partner pharmacies through its medical delivery service ‘ApotikAntar,’ and licensed medical laboratory services in Indonesia. Users can also communicate with these medical professionals via chat, video and voice call.

HappyFresh

Founded In: 2014

Founder(s): Tim Marbach, Benjamin Koellmann, Fajar Budiprasetyo, Kai Kux

Sectors: Mobile and ecommerce

Headquarters: Jakarta

Funding: In March 2015, it raised an undisclosed amount in Seed funding from MPGI Holdings Ltd, Ardent Capital, and Cherry Ventures. Following that, it raised $10 Mn in Series A led by Vertex Ventures. Other investors in the round were 500 Startups, Asia Venture Group, BEENEXT and existing investors. In August 2016, it raised an undisclosed amount in a Series B round led by Sameena Capital. Sinar Mas Digital Ventures and Vertex Ventures also took part in the round.

It is a logistics-based ecommerce startup that functions via an app. Users can order groceries and other perishable and non-perishable food items and the startup acts as a grocery delivery service with added charges.

[If you are a startup, investors based out of Indonesia and want to get featured on Inc42, write to us at [email protected]]