Vegan Cosmetic Brand from Indonesia ESQA Raises Series A Funding Worth 94 Billion Rupiah

The market for beauty products in Indonesia is still growing. Especially with more and more emerging local products that are competing to attract people's hearts. One of them is ESQA, the first vegan cosmetics brand in Indonesia, which recently received Series A funding worth $6 million or more than 94,3 billion Rupiah led by Unilever Ventures.

Well-known investor East Ventures (EV) also participated in this round. Prior to ESQA, EV had been involved in startup funding in the beauty industry, such as Base, Evo, and Social Bella (Sociolla Group).

ESQA was founded by Cindy Angelina as CEO and Kezia Trihatmanto as CPO to redefine luxurybeauty in a more practical and affordable form. Starting with the passion to build an innovative beauty brand focused on safe ingredients, ESQA hopes to develop leading products in the international cosmetology scene.

“Innovation is at the forefront of our brand. Our approach is to think globally and act regionally, therefore ESQA is agile in seeing international trends but serving the needs of Asian and local skin according to our customer-centric focus, providing the products customers need," said Kezia.

The company that claims to be an Indonesian 'indie' beauty brand has a diverse product portfolio and has recently ventured into the skin care category. ESQA wants to capitalize on the market masstige This is through inclusive products that aim to simplify the modern woman's beauty routine. Until now, ESQA has launched a total of 120 SKUs that have been certified vegan and halal.

ESQA products are distributed via an omnichannel platform and are widely available in the market, E-commerce, and direct-to-consumer (D2C) websites. The company has also expanded its business into the Southeast Asian market, including Vietnam, Singapore and Malaysia. This brand is also sold at leading offline retailers such as Sociolla, Sephora, Watsons, and local cosmetics stores in 47 cities across Indonesia. ESQA has expanded into Vietnam through Sociolla stores in Ho Chi Minh, Da Nang and Hanoi.

It is planned that the funding received will be used to expand omnichannel distribution and support the company's expansion strategy to reach new cities and go global. Companies will also develop more innovative product offerings, build talent, and strengthen their marketing strategy.

Regardless of the pandemic situation, his party claims to have recorded significant profitability and growth. Following this success, the investment received by ESQA also marks the first beauty investment made by Unilever Ventures in Southeast Asia after previously investing in vitamin products. Youvit.

Avina Sugiarto as Partner of East Ventures said, "There is an increasing demand for high-quality beauty products with an approach hyperlocal and affordable prices, where we believe that innovation and natural ingredients, as well as diverse product offerings will propel ESQA to become a leader in the beauty market in Southeast Asia."

Revival of local beauty products

In recent years, the local beauty industry has grown by leaps and bounds. In the midst of the onslaught of various international brands and products, various local products were able to show promising developments through quality, competitive prices and good marketing and branding strategies.

Based on the Statista report, the revenue value of care and beauty products in Indonesia in 2020 has reached IDR 100,02 trillion. This figure is expected to continue to increase every year. Until 2025, the figure is projected to grow 37,7% to IDR 137,77 billion.

There are several reasons driving this growth. Based on a survey conducted by the Katadata Insight Center (KIC) at the end of 2020, it showed that 82,3% of respondents chose to use local products because they were motivated by pride in domestic products and 60,7% because of affordable prices.

In addition, this increase is in line with the increasing interest of the Indonesian people in body and beauty care products. In fact, the various product variants are increasingly diverse following the high market demand. Several players in this industry who have also received funding include Somethin, Mad for Makeup, and Alatté Beauty.