Sayurbox Announces Series B Funding, Led by Astra Digital

Startups online groceriesVegetablebox announced today (28/4) that it has closed its Series B funding round for an undisclosed amount. PT Astra Digital International as a subsidiary of PT Astra International Tbk., acted to lead the investment round with the support of Syngenta Group Ventures, Global Brain Corporation, Ondine Capital, Strategic Year Holdings Ltd., and several other names that were not specified.

It also mentioned that Sayurbox had actually closed its previous round of funding [series A] one year ago. However, the details were not stated, nor is it based on our records that the funding was not publicly announced.

Previously, it was known, according to the explanation of one of the executives of the Astra group, that his company poured funds around 72 billion Rupiah to Vegetablebox this year. Their hypothesis is that the startup founded by Amanda Susanti, Rama Notowidigdo, and Metha Trisnawati has "business case" attractive and relevant to today's market needs.

This investment will help accelerate the growth of Sayurbox's food supply chain infrastructure in the Greater Jakarta, Surabaya and Bali areas, as well as for expansion into new regions in Indonesia due to strong demand for Sayurbox's services.

Sayurbox Co-Founder & CEO Amanda Susanti said, “We are very pleased with the high demand for Sayurbox services in Java and other regions in Indonesia as well as consumer confidence in products from our partner farmers, producers and suppliers. With like-minded investors and visionaries, we can't wait to take advantage of this great opportunity to continue to bring good to all; providing freshness in one box and comfort for Indonesian consumers.”

Since its launch in 2017, Sayurbox currently serves fresh product purchases online online. A variety of products are sold ranging from vegetables, fruits, various meats, seafood, and other products sourced directly from local farmers, producers and suppliers.

Through its vision, Sayurbox is committed to solving key problems such as the need for better logistics, aggregation and distribution for farmers. By creating a more efficient food supply chain using technology, Sayurbox is not only able to provide better prices for farmers and consumers, but also reduces agricultural waste caused by the complexity of the food supply chain.

In addition to Sayurbox, currently in Indonesia there are also services online groceries other. Starting from Happyfresh which also continues to expand the market, then GetMyStore which is an update from old Kesupermarket players, to unicorn which brings similar sub-features as GoMart (Gojek), Tokomart (Tokopedia), to Bliblimart (Blibli). New players are also popping up with the approach hyperlocal, for example the Segari, Dropezy, Chilimart, Tumbas platforms, and many more.

Investors are also increasingly eyeing startups in this field, most recently Segari received initial funding from Beenext, AC Ventures, Saison Capital, and several angel investors. Dropezy also booked funding from Taurus Ventures and Kopi Kenangan Fund this March.