Sayurbox Announces Series B Funding Led by Astra Digital

Vegetablebox online grocery startup, today (28/4) announced its series B funding round with an undisclosed amount. PT Astra Digital International as a subsidiary of PT Astra International Tbk, was leading the investment round with participation of Syngenta Group Ventures, Global Brain Corporation, Ondine Capital, Strategic Year Holdings Ltd., and some others that were not specifically mentioned.

It is said that Sayurbox had closed its previous round of funding [series A] one year ago. However, the details were not implied, and based on our observations, the funding was not announced publicly.

Previously, one of Astra group's executives mentioned that the company has poured around 72 billion Rupiah funding to Vegetablebox this year. The hypothesis is that the startup founded by Amanda Susanti, Rama Notowidigdo, and Metha Trisnawati held an interesting "business case" that is 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 to new areas in Indonesia due to the strong demand for Sayurbox 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 farmer partners, producers and suppliers. With investors who share the same thoughts and vision, we can't wait to take advantage of this great opportunity to continue to work for all; provide freshness in one box and comfort for Indonesian consumers."

Since the launch in 2017, Sayurbox is currently serving online grocery product orders. Products include vegetables, fruits, various meats, seafood, and other products that are 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.

Apart from Sayurbox, there are also other online grocery services operating in Indonesia. Some of them are Happyfresh, which also continues to expand its market, GetMyStore as an update of Kesupermarket, to the unicorns that present similar sub-features such as GoMart (Gojek), Tokomart (Tokopedia), to Bliblimart (Blibli). There are also new players with a hyperlocal approach, for example Segari, Dropezy, Chilimart, Tumbas, and many more platforms.

Investors are increasingly looking for startups in this field, Segari has recently received seed funding from Beenext, AC Ventures, Saison Capital, and several angel investors. Dropezy also secured funding from the Taurus Ventures and Kopi Kenangan Fund this March.

-Original article is in Indonesian, translated by Kristin Siagian