E-commerce Startup Enabler "Plugo" Raises 140 Billion Rupiah Funding Led by Alto Ventures [UPDATED]

Startups e-commerce enablers Plugo announced that it has secured $9 million or around IDR 140 billion in Series A funding ahead of its public launch early next year. This round was led by Altos Ventures, and participation from other investors including BonAngels Venture Partners, Access Ventures, Mahanusa Capital, Prodigy Investment, and Pearl Abyss Capital.

Plugo will use the fresh funds to develop products, recruit teams across various divisions and expand the scope of its operations.

"We are proud to announce the acquisition of these fresh funds, which is clear evidence of investors' trust in our business," said Plugo's Founder and CEO Kyungmin Bang in an official statement.

More than a month later, on February 1 2023 to be exact, the company made its presence public. Bang said, the momentum of his presence coincided with the trend of migration brand from marketplace ke direct-to-consumer platform (D2C) like Plugo.

Business potential e-commerce enablers somewhat tempting, especially in Indonesia. Sector E-commerce Indonesia is one of the fastest growing markets in the world. The digital economy is valued at around $77 billion this year according to the e-Conomy 2022 report, and is predicted to reach $130 billion by 2025 with dominance from the digital economy sector. e-commerce.

"Not only is the value huge and significant, but there are still countless opportunities. What's more, local businesses have been adopting digital technology at a rapid rate due to ecosystem innovation. E-commerce which continues to grow as well as dynamic changes in consumer behavior," said Bang.

Altos Ventures partner Moon-suk Oh added, "Plugo's mission is in line with our mission to create significant economic value while making a positive contribution to society. We are very pleased to partner with Plugo to support their vision and business growth."

Plugo Solution

Plugo is a platform all-in-one e-commerce which helps anyone who wants to start a business online. Plugo gives more control to its users, brand identity stronger, as well as the ability to set a more competitive selling price of goods at once scalable or measurable.

Its features are enriched in order to give freedom to users, starting from personalizing online stores with various website templates, integration with payment methods and couriers, omnichannel, SEO, and tools marketing. Plugo take advantage cloud and hosted, allows its users to access and manage their business from anywhere and anytime.

Besides being able to connect its online store with the marketplace platform, Plugo also provides integration with the TikTok Shop, Facebook Catalog, and Instagram Shop. Not only that, merchants can also run ads on the platform social commerce directly from the Plugo dashboard.

Bang continued, "Over the past decade, the market trend has always been dominated by business-to-consumer [B2C] or marketplace. Platforms direct-to-consumer [D2C] like Plugo has recently become the trend for more transparent and efficient businesses. However, we believe Plugo has great potential because there is still a lot of room for growth and a big gap in the market, especially for MSMEs."

A few years back, ecosystem E-commerce designed in a way that makes setting up a shop a difficult challenge, and selling even more difficult. These factors create an environment in which size, experience, and availability of funds are prohibitive for most merchant new.

Other than that, merchant Those who start a business also have concerns in building Branding for the long term. This is especially more important today, where new businesses are popping up all over the place every now and then.

"Our platform is designed to remove those barriers. We want to democratize E-commerce and make it easier merchant us to freedom."

This startup was founded in Singapore this year, with offices in Jakarta and Seoul. Currently the status is still Closed beta. The full launch will take place in early 2023, targeting potential users in Indonesia. In Indonesia, the solution offered by Plugo is not new. Previously, enlivened by sirclo, Jet Commerce, aCommerce, SetShop, to Ginee.

One of its early adopters, local fashion brand Gonegani, said many business people feel how important it is Branding when the competition is very tight in marketplace. Platforms E-commerce like Plugo is considered suitable because it not only provides access for customer transactions, but also for development brand identity.

According to Khairul Gani, the owner of Gonegani, there are even many customers who don't realize that when they shop for their products at the marketplace, they are actually buying from Gonegani, not from the marketplace itself. The customer's inability to differentiate between the two makes it difficult for brands to build the sales channel as 100% their own. The brand will forever be an extension of the marketplace.

With the Plugo solution, brands like Gonegani can take full control of their online store. Start with options layout, logo, color, up to font. Home they also will not be overwhelmed by products from competitors, but only show off special offers and superior products that they want to display. With the ability to edit almost any aspect of their online store, brand so they can express their personality freely.

-

*) We added additional information about the inauguration of Plugo's presence and a statement from one of the Plugo user brands