Dropezy Pockets 35,5 Billion Rupiah Pre-Series A Funding, Presents “Quick Commerce” Solution

Startups online groceries Dropezy announced a pre-series A funding of $2,5 million (approximately 35,5 billion IDR). This round was led by Forge Ventures with participation from Tekton Ventures, Next Billion Ventures, Nordstar, as well as the angel investors, including the founders of Kopi Kenangan and BukuKas.

Through this round, Dropezy will launch its newest solution expansion “quick commerce” which offers instant 20 minute delivery to the location after ordering. The company will expand the center fulfillment mikro (cloud stores) up to a dozen at various points throughout the Greater Jakarta area.

In an official statement, Dropezy Co-founder & COO Nitesh Chellaram said, the ongoing pandemic has changed the way consumers shop for their daily needs on the platform. online. However, service oonline grocery existing ones focus on around the supply chain offline existing or minimize costs.

There are aspects that are left behind and have not been resolved by them to satisfy the consumer experience when shopping online, i.e. faster delivery. Dropezy comes with the vision to offer the most convenient way for people to get groceries.

“Dropezy was built from the ground up to satisfy urban consumers who demand convenience and speed that allows consumers to order their everyday essentials in bite size without minimum order, with the cheapest shipping rates in Indonesia," said Nitesh, Thursday (23/9).

He continued, with this vision, the company now has 60% repeat customers who is still shopping at Dropezy after six months. According to him, these customers like the consistency and freshness of the Dropezy product selection and reasonable prices.

In its business operations, Dropezy controls inventory and logistics in-house with a committed fleet of riders allocating at least 6 hours a day for small package delivery. Solution presence quick commerce This is also present because of the needs of Dropezy consumers who want to send their orders faster than now.

“If you're making coffee and realize you're out of milk, Dropezy will give it to you before your coffee gets cold. We are excited to partner with investors who share our vision and customer obsession.”

To support the company's vision, Dropezy currently has one center fulfillment mikro (cloud stores) assisted by a total team currently of 100 people to serve next-day deliveries. To realize the company's ambition to provide 20-minute delivery to the buyer's location, Dropezy plans to open up to a dozen cloud stores until the end of this year.

Dropezy Co-founder & CEO Chandni Chainani added, “Expanding from 1 warehouse to 10 is very challenging, and there was no way we could have done this without the 18 months of learning and insight we gained from our customers.”

Forge Ventures partner Kaspar Hidayat said, his party is enthusiastic to partner further with Dropezy to revolutionize the industry online groceries. According to him, the current players are not solving important problems and that is why the penetration in this segment is much lower than in the industry E-commerce.

“And Dropezy changed all that. As Dropezy grows, this will allow customers to buy groceries and daily necessities on time, and running out of something essential will be a thing of the past.”

Industry competition online groceries

Industry online groceries has fierce competition, but still has high growth space because its penetration is still concentrated in big cities.

Report from The report of Statista convey, in the last year the market share online groceries in this country only reached 0,3%, is predicted to increase 20 basis points to 0,5% in 2022. The pandemic that hit the country was mentioned as one of the main factors that triggered the increase in the popularity of the service online groceries among consumers.

According to the data, a further impact of the pandemic apart from changing consumer online buying behavior, is a change in consumer mindset in shopping. “Worried about the economic impact of the pandemic, many Indonesian consumers are becoming more budget conscious. In addition, the priority of purchasing basic necessities and health among consumers is also seen during the pandemic," the report said.

So that instant delivery solutions at affordable costs are increasingly relevant because there is a consumer segment there. Besides Dropezy, more and more players online groceries that concern with instant delivery. Among them there are Vegetablebox which offers delivery within two hours, BlibliMart who offers delivery same-day for purchases made between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m., and HappyFresh which promises the goods will be delivered within one hour after ordering.