Mekari Gets Series D Funding, Opens Up Opportunities for Acquisition of Other SaaS Startups

SaaS startup Mekari secured $18 million (over 250 billion Rupiah) series D funding led by Money Forward, Inc. PT Mitratama Grahaguna, EV Growth, PT Supra Primatama Nusantara, PT Karang Mas Investama, PT Mitra Dutamas, PT Perkom Indah Murni, and Alto Partners are among the investors who entered this round. Except for EV Growth and Alto Partners, these investors are in MidPlaza Holdings.

Money Forward was previously included in the series C round in December 2019 which was then led by EV Growth.

To DailySocialMekari's Co-Founder and CEO, Suwandi Soh, said that the majority of the fresh funds will be used for the development of Mekari's main products, namely HR, Accounting, and Tax. The company has also just released new innovations related to the main product, namely Mekari Chat (integrated communication with HR) and Mekari Flex (modern employee benefit solutions).

"In addition to product development, he is also actively looking at merger and acquisition (M&A) opportunities for Indonesian SaaS companies which is in line with the company's vision to become a platform for modern companies in Indonesia," he explained, Monday (17/8).

Suwandi's statement is quite interesting, because Mekari (previously named Sleekr) also fully acquired three SaaS startups, namely Talenta, Jurnal, and KlikPajak in April 2019. Then each service was consolidated into one platform, enabling Mekari to attract target users from various business scales.

In Indonesia itself, the growth of SaaS startup users is growing rapidly, supported by the Covid-19 pandemic. Even from the supply side, the number of players too more diverse offer their respective services.

Suwandi said, although it was not detailed further, Mekari's business always grew positively every month. The fastest growing business sectors are services, trading, and manufacturing. When viewed based on the business sector, SMEs are still holding it because Mekari's current products are very suitable for that sector.

“We have consumers in micro, but there are not many consumers. But enterprise (large business) also includes our segment which has grown tremendously in the last half year.”

Mekari noted that users with more than 500 employees grew significantly. They use the product cloud HR who is very helpful when adapting to the Covid-19 situation and compliance with new rules such as PPh 21 borne by the government (DTP).