Location-Based Community Marketplace Services Mila Receives Funding, Soon to Expand to Indonesia

Location-based community marketplace service Mila secured 3 million Swiss Francs ($3.22 million) in funding from a consortium of Swiss and German private technology investors, including Peter Zencke and Adrian Bult. Mila plans to expand into Indonesia, including opening a new office in Jakarta in the near future because they see this country as a potential market for Mila. Mila is currently available worldwide, particularly in Germany, Switzerland, Indonesia and China.

"We believe that there must be an easy and convenient way for people in the local community to help each other and get work done. With Mila, we can connect with people who offer services, or you can earn extra income by providing services or your time in the neighborhood," said CEO Mila Manuel Grenacher.

Peter Zencke, long-time member of SAP's executive board and German technology investor, said in a press release, "The sharing economy is a powerful trend that will revolutionize commerce within the community. We are excited to lead the investment in Mila - which we believe in, because of its history to build and grow a successful mobile platform - will be put in place to improve the way local business is done. Mila's strong growth and enthusiastic passion among local buyers and sellers demonstrates the massive potential of the peer-to-peer economy."

In general Mila is a service platform to help someone get their work done. This app offers an easy way to connect with people around where they live. It is possible to publish jobs or browse the services (or products) of the provider and pay via smartphone.

When someone publishes a request for a service or work to be completed at Mila - for example to make beds, to help clean up a neglected garden or install a wireless network in a home - local businesses and people can make offers to provide or complete it. Mila provides a comfortable place for transactions and payments are made securely via PayPal.

Jan Alther, Marketing Director of Mila, provides some details about Mila's expansion in Indonesia:

We started operations on the platform as you can see on Mila's site since last week. Indonesian localization is underway, our site will be available in Indonesian and next week we will upload an explanatory video in Indonesian. Mila is available worldwide, where we define a number of "hotspots" as where we want to develop our concentration. Indonesia and especially in Jakarta are included in this hotspot. Being one of the fastest growing areas including for mobile payments and entrepreneurial enthusiasm, we think Indonesia offers great potential for platforms like Mila. We currently manage our Asia operations from Shanghai. Among the team, we have an Indonesian employee who concentrates on localizing and bringing Southeast Asian aspirations. Over the next few months, we will develop this product further and for the features needed to build a relevant user base. Currently we have PayPal integrated as a payment system and are currently working on further integration with IPAYMU. We are planning to open an office in Jakarta in the near future, and at the same time we are negotiating with local partners to distribute apps for Android and iOS in Indonesia (applications are in progress).

Outsourcing systems such as Mila and the freelance job market are always getting open arms in Indonesia as they offer wide opportunities to acquire locally worked projects and jobs.