Indonesia’s Bridestory Secures Funding in a Round Led By Rocket Internet Group
Jakarta. Bridestory, Indonesian’s leading online wedding marketplace, has just secured funding from German e-commerce investor Rocket Internet Group.
Bridestory said in a statement released on Thursday that this investment marks the first investment made by Rocket in the online wedding market.
The funding is classified as Series A funding, which refers to cash funding that typically comes from venture capital funds or angel investors who are willing to take high risks for a company in its early stages of development.
Existing investors of Bridestory -- Sovereigns Capital, East Ventures and Fenox VC -- also participated, along with two new investors, Lippo Digital Ventures and Skystar Capital.
Rocket and other investors didn’t disclose the amount of funding.
“This investment is a huge coup for Bridestory, which was launched in April 2014 and has assumed a leading position in the Southeast Asian wedding market,” the statement said.
It added that Rocket believed that founders Kevin Mintaraga, the chief executive and co-founder of Bridestory and his co-founder partner Emile Etienne are both rare talents and ones to watch in Southeast Asia.
Rocket said in a statement that it believes the two have the vision and team to build a very large online business addressing the annual overall spending of the $18 billion wedding market in Southeast Asia.
“By leveraging the Rocket Internet global platform, present in over 100 countries, there is huge upside potential to take Bridestory into many other countries,” Bridestory said in the statement.
Kevin says he believes that this partnership will take the company to the next level in the international wedding market.
“The people behind Rocket are proven entrepreneurs with track records in building successful global businesses. They are more than just investors. We’re excited about being able to work together with them to scale the business, but we are more excited to learn from their experience and tap into their knowledge as well as leveraging the Rocket Internet platform globally,” he said.
Bridestory plans to use the recently raised funds to accelerate growth, scale the team, step up product development and to prepare for expanding into the international wedding market, it says.
GlobeAsia
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