CrediBook Closes Series A Funding of 116 Billion Rupiah Led by Monk's Hill Ventures

Digital bookkeeping SaaS startup CrediBook announced the acquisition of Series A funding of $8,1 million (over 116 billion Rupiah) led by Monk's Hill Ventures, with participation from several former investors, namely Insignia Ventures Partners and Wavemaker Partners. Both are investors in A pre-series round $1,5 million which closed in January 2021.

The company will use this fresh fund for national expansion, technology development, employee recruitment. Then, expand digital wholesale services CrediMart, through the addition of product categories and conventional wholesale store partnerships and expansion of operational areas.

In an official statement, CrediBook Co-founder & CEO Gabriel Frans said, the company will focus on answering operational problems faced by wholesalers, as well as working on great potential in the wholesale segment through CrediMart. Based on the data he cites, in Indonesia there are around 200 thousand wholesale businesses serving 65 million retailers and contributing more than 60% to GDP.

Moreover, based on the activities of non-agricultural MSMEs, the estimated size of the market is $260 billion. "This number is very large, so CrediBook wants to work on this potential through the launch of a digital wholesale service, CrediMart, in September 2021," Gabriel said, Tuesday (5/4).

Resolve wholesale store operational issues

CrediMart is born from operational problems experienced by conventional wholesale stores that do not have similar digital wholesale services. For wholesalers, CrediMart provides an application online ordering to make it easier for wholesale stores to receive orders and stock management more quickly, and is equipped with digital bookkeeping features. Meanwhile, for retail, CrediMart provides online wholesale shopping services, overdue payments, and delivery services next-day.

Since its launch, CrediMart has attracted around 60 thousand wholesalers and retailers spread across more than 40 cities. Its partners provide a variety of wholesale products, ranging from daily necessities, leading medicines, stationery and office supplies, to building materials. Its revenue growth is claimed to increase up to seven times, increase 50% of the daily sales of wholesale partners, and increase unique retail customers up to 56%.

“Through the digital bookkeeping application, CrediBook wants business actors to have neat financial reports and facilitate access to financing. Meanwhile, CrediMart is increasing the digital capacity of conventional wholesalers through order management and store inventory. CrediMart's wholesale partners also welcome the digital services we provide because CrediMart helps to improve their business from the aspect of daily sales."

For CrediBook itself, it is claimed that 40% of its users come from districts and villages in Indonesia. This application has also helped wholesale and retail players make neat financial reports in less than five minutes and has been proven to help speed up the process of applying for People's Business Credit (KUR).

Regarding this funding, Partner Monk's Hill Ventures Susli Lie said that for the past two years his party has observed Gabriel and the CrediBook team working to comprehensively digitize wholesalers. Currently, the procurement process for wholesale and retail goods is still done manually and is in dire need of digitization. Talking about the potential is very big, there are more than 65 million SMEs pelaku which can be targeted by users.

“CrediBook has identified issues that need to be resolved, namely operational efficiency (digital bookkeeping applications and digital wholesalers), access to financing, and encouraging expansion for wholesalers to larger retail customers. We are very happy to be a part of CrediBook's journey which has mapped the potential of digitizing bookkeeping and digital wholesalers in Indonesia," said Susli.

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