Bababos Obtains Close Initial Funding of IDR 46 Billion Led by East Ventures [UPDATED]

*update: on September 19, 2023, the company sent an official release, stating that the latest round was the closing of $3 million in seed funding involving Accion Venture Lab.

Bababos, announced the completion of an initial funding round (seed) worth $3 million (around Rp. 46,1 billion) led by East Ventures, and involving several other investors, namely, Patamar Capital and Accion Venture Lab.

This new funding will be used to build a seamless platform in connecting small and medium industrial manufacturers (IKM) with the best raw material suppliers, and will also be allocated to support the technological foundation and empower human resources to accelerate Bababos' business expansion which is currently available in the Jabodetabek and Surabaya areas.

Previously Bababos had announced initial funding in March 2023 from East Ventures with an undisclosed amount.

Bababos was founded by Fajar Adiwidodo (CEO), Sigit Aryo Tejo (COO), and Hendrik Panca (CFO) in mid-2022. Its vision is to become a world-class supply chain platform for procurement of manufacturing materials, especially in the MSME segment. Through its website, Bababos accommodates usual business processes buyer and beg manufacturing materials digitally.

Dawn and para co-founder motivated to build this platform because they still see the high fragmentation of the raw material supply chain. Many MSMEs experience limited access to quality raw materials. Another problem is also related to the transparency of selling prices on the market.

With a business model "managed-marketplace", Bababoss play a role in the transaction process, from purchasing raw materials to beg until delivery of goods to customers. In its debut, 3 features were offered, namely the provision of manufacturing raw materials, demand aggregation, and tempo facilities. In the initial phase, they only accommodated the Jabodetabek and East Java areas.

Industry manufacturing in Indonesia has enormous economic value. In 2022, it is estimated to reach IDR 3.591 trillion, this sector also employs more than 19 million people in various industrial scales.

Nowadays a number of startups are starting to debut, trying to provide solutions to transform this sector. Apart from Bababos, there is also Imajin who just got it funding from East Ventures, 500 SEA, and Init-6. As manufacturing hub, Imajin tries to bring together local manufacturers with customers. They also facilitate project financing for business owners who have limited funds, and offer marketplace to supply raw material.