Bluebird Participates in Pre-Series A Funding for Startup Social Commerce Commerce

Startups social commerceTrade announced a pre-series A funding with an undisclosed amount from a number of investors, including CyberAgent Capital, Spiral Ventures, 500 Startups, and Bluebird Group. This round is the beginning of series A funding which is targeted to be closed in the near future.

According to an official statement delivered by the company today (18/6), the fresh funds will be used as ammunition for the expansion to 7 thousand villages this year so that more people in rural areas can get their daily needs which are far from shopping centers.

CyberAgent Capital Managing Director Nobuaki Kitagawa said that his party believes that Dagangan can have a positive impact in helping and improving the economy of the community in tier 3 and 4 areas. “[..] With the experience and in-depth knowledge of the Dagangan team in the FMCG industry, we believe that Dagangan will succeed in penetrating underserved local markets where highly inefficient supply chains and a lack of trust from local communities persist,” he said.

Commerce is an app social commerce which provides a variety of household needs, ranging from basic necessities, fresh products, to other daily necessities in retail and wholesale. The startup, which was founded in 2019, targets shop owners in villages who have had to travel 20 km-30 km to wet markets to shop for necessities.

"They usually underserved by the principal brand because it is located far from the city and needs help instead of having to close the shop for shopping with a distance of 20 km-30 km," explained Trade Co-Founder Wilson Yanaprasetya separately in a virtual press conference held today.

Dagangan has warehouses scattered in various remote areas on the island of Java as a hub and distribution channel in each village, involving local communities to solve distribution access problems in rural areas. Wilson continued, the entire procurement process at Dagangan is carried out in two ways, some are taken directly from the principal's brand and then stored in the store hubs, and take directly from the product owner for products from MSMEs in the surrounding villages.

Now, not only providing household needs, the Dagangan platform also sells various MSME products, ranging from snacks, kitchen spices, processed ready-to-eat foods, to making their own labels with affordable product prices.

Dagangan utilizes two types of consumers, namely shop owners as business actors who usually make large transactions and make purchases on the Dagangan application. Next, retail buyers are individuals who want to shop for daily necessities through the Dagangan Mall application. Products ordered by consumers will be delivered within 1x24 hours by the Merchant fleet.

Not only helping those who have difficulty in providing their daily needs, Dagangan partners with local entrepreneurs who become partners to provide goods. Thus, they can improve their quality of life through entrepreneurship. There are some partner hubs who have joined. Currently, Dagangan operates in more than 4 villages spread across Yogyakarta, Central Java, and West Java.

Merchandise Co-Founder Ryan Manafe added, with a business model like this, his party is able to attract local figures to grow together. “Trading is here to provide convenience to local communities in carrying out their daily economic activities. With the spirit of building the local economy, Dagangan offers a one-stop digital service solution pintu in providing various household needs,” he said.

In the future, Dagangan will expand to other village locations around Java. It is hoped that by the end of this year it will be present in 7 thousand villages, 30 hubs, and 40 thousand active consumers.

“We are happy to listen to requests from the community regarding daily needs. If there is a high enough demand for an item, then we will look for them. We hope that we can become a reliable application for people in rural areas,” Ryan concluded.