With $35.9 mln in VC funding, Indonesia’s GudangAda adds logistics to its B2B marketplace
JAKARTA - A 15-month-old B2B marketplace says it has onboarded 5,000 sellers and buyers across 500 cities in all of Indonesia’s major islands and is fulfilling an average of more than $100 million in transactions per month. Flushed with $35.9 million in venture capital funding, GudangAda is now ready to scale.
This month GudangAda secured $25.4 million in a Series A round from Sequoia Capital, Alpha JWC Ventures and Wavemaker Partners. The company in February bagged $10.5 million in a seed round from Alpha JWC, Wavemaker, and Temasek affiliate Pavilion Capital.
“The funding will be focused on scaling current operations, launching new business lines, developing technology capabilities and product features and strengthening our workforce,” Founder and CEO Stevensang told Salaam Gateway.
There is no short term need or plan for another fundraising, he said.
The platform that connects distributors and wholesalers to retailers of fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), including F&B, agriculture, personal care, cosmetics, and cigarettes, says its new business line is logistic services. This is currently a pilot project that is available in the Greater Jakarta region and the cities of Bandung, Lampung, Medan, and Semarang. Plans are in place to expand the service to other major cities within the next few months, according to Stevensang.
The company also has its sights on onboarding 7% to 10% of Indonesia’s large retailers on its platform. Stevensang is optimistic this goal can be achieved.
“The clients we serve today are not FMCG brands but wholesalers, both sellers and buyers. Many of them also help by promoting us to their downstream retail customers in addition to our offline BD and online marketing efforts to connect retailers,” he said.
“We will accelerate our expansion and provide more comprehensive services so we will be able to serve most players in the Indonesian FMCG ecosystem,” added the former Chief of Sales and Distribution at one of Indonesia’s leading FMCG companies and President Director of Indonesia’s largest distribution company.
Stevensang calls the FMCG sector a “tough industry” to crack but GudangAda has the advantage of being led by a 25-year professional. It also uses an AI-enabled analytic that makes smarter approaches to optimize product categories and determine which SKUs to carry, as well as manage aspects of store operations and give insights on FMCG sales trends and industry development for its users.
The idea is to reduce operational costs for businesses, lower procurement prices, and improve transparency in transaction and documentation while giving sellers access to a larger customer pool, business network and product selection.
“In the end, [sellers] see higher sales volume with faster turnover,” said the CEO.
“It’s also worth noting that in this industry, relationships and trust are the most vital factors, and we’re fortunate that our track record before this can provide that and bring us to where we are right now,” he added.
GudangAda says every fulfilment is guaranteed, and payments are secured through third party escrow accounts to facilitate online transactions.
(Reporting by Yosi Winosa; Editing by Emmy Abdul Alim emmy.abdulalim@salaamgatewaycom)
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