Indonesian E-Grocery Startup Sayurbox Raises $120 Million In Series C Funding

Sayurbox announced Monday that it had raised $120 million in a Series C funding round led by Northstar and Alpha JWC Ventures. The Jakarta-based startup said International Finance Corporation had joined as a new investor and existing investors, such as Astra International, Syngenta Group Ventures, and Global Brain, had also taken part. The new capital will be used to expand into new and existing cities and to develop its supply chain across Indonesia.

“Sayurbox was founded with the social mission of providing market access to local farmers through the digitalization of Indonesia’s agri-supply chain,” Amanda Susanti, cofounder and CEO of Sayurbox, said in its statement.

The latest funding comes less than a year after the startup raised $15 million in Series B funding led by Astra. Sayurbox which was founded in 2017, sells more than 5,000 items ranging from fresh produce, meat, poultry and snacks to ready-to-eat dishes. The startup currently has around 1 million customers in Java and Bali, and it already works with more than 10,000 farmers, although it aims to increase that number to 40,000 farmers by 2024.

“E-grocery is the next frontier for e-commerce, and we are excited about working closely with Amanda and her team to grow the Sayurbox platform throughout Indonesia,” said Patrick Walujo, cofounder and managing partner of Northstar.

Based on the recent report by Google, Temasek and Bain, the prolonged pandemic has boosted the adoption of e-grocery platforms in Southeast Asia. The report projected that 1 in 4 dollars spent on groceries will go to e-commerce sites by 2030. The e-grocery segment is becoming increasingly competitive with established players like Happy Fresh and Segari having to contend with newcomers like Allofresh, a joint venture between Chairul Tanjung’s Trans Retail Indonesia, Bukalapak and Singapore’s Growtheum Capital Partners.