Indonesian Online Grocery Startup Raises $12m for Expansion
Jakarta. HappyFresh, a Jakarta-headquartered company that allows consumers to buy groceries online, has raised $12 million of funding, solidifying the service's expansion plans across Southeast Asia.
In a statement on Monday, the company announced that it has completed a Series A financing round — funding given to startups already generating some revenue — which was led by Sinar Mas Digital Ventures, the venture arm of local conglomerate Sinar Mas Group, and Singapore's Vertex Ventures, the venture arm of state-controlled Temasek Holdings.
Other investors include 500 Startups, Asia Venture Capital, Ardent Capital, BEENEXT and Cherry Ventures, the company said in a statement.
"We are very happy to partner with Vertex -- one of the strongest and most reputable investors across Southeast Asia — and SMDV — which is affiliated with Sinar Mas -- one of the most established industrial groups," Markus Bihler, chief executive officer and co-founder of HappyFresh, said in a statement. "We are looking forward to benefitting from their strong networks to further expand our footprint across Southeast Asia."
HappyFresh, which was founded in October 2014, partners with retail chains to offer online grocery services to consumers. After launching a next-hour online grocery delivery service in Indonesia and Malaysia in March, the company has already expanded to Thailand and Taiwan.
In Indonesia, the company is working with Farmers Market and Ranch Market, which have a total of 24 outlets in the Greater Jakarta region.
"This is a business model which clearly benefits the supermarkets and the consumers. Its capital efficient model allows it to scale easily and very quickly," said Joo Hock Chua, managing director of Vertex, who's also becoming a board member at HappyFresh.
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