BukuWarung is a fintech startup from Indonesia that has recently raised $60 million in a series A funding round. Founded in 2018, BukuWarung is a platform to help small businesses in Indonesia manage their finances better, while giving them access to financial and other products.
This article will provide an overview of the company, its products, and how it impacts Indonesia’s small business sector.
What is BukuWarung?
BukuWarung is a digital payment and financial services platform that serves millions of micro, small and medium-sized businesses (MSMEs) across Indonesia. Founded in 2018, BukuWarung has developed an integrated mobile- and web-based platform that allows users to manage their business finances digitally and securely.
The end goal of BukuWarung is to create a ‘superapp’ for MSMEs in Southeast Asia’s largest economy, comprising features such as business registration, payroll, identity digitization (Know Your Customer) management tools and access to financing.
On the 5th of May 2021, the company revealed it had closed a U$60 million series A funding round led by Goodwater Capital and Lyft co-founder John Zimmer’s Y Combinator Growth Fund (YC Growth). The cash injection will help BukuWarung accelerate its commercial operations and develop tailor made solutions for Indonesian MSMEs. New investors Trustbridge Partners, EMVC as well as returning investors Flourish Ventures joined the round alongside Next Billion Ventures, Y Combinator Continuity Fund I LP., TMV Investment Group Pte Ltd., Wavemaker Partners Global Fund I LP., Ardent Cosponsored Innovation Fund LP., Robert Jungeberg (PayPal Co-Founder) backed FJ Labs LLC, Monk’s Hill Ventures etc.
What is its mission?
BukuWarung is an Indonesian fintech startup that provides digital financial services to micro and small businesses. It primarily focuses on helping Indonesia’s unbanked stay connected via digital payments, banking, accounting and other digital payment solutions.
The company has recently raised $60 million from investors such as Lightspeed Venture Partners, Y Combinator Continuity, Flourish Ventures and others for a Series A funding round.
BukuWarung’s mission is to simplify the micro-entrepreneurs experience in managing finances related to their business operations by providing seamless payments solutions. The goal of the product is to provide solutions that empowers these small businesses with the same financial structure that larger companies with access to more capital have, making it easier for them to make financial decisions and have easier cash flow management capabilities.
With the latest funding round, BukuWarung will now seek even further expansion into various markets in Southeast Asia. Ultimately its mission is to ensure the financial security of many small businesses across the region, so they can concentrate their energy on growing their business operations through an efficient and reliable platform.
Products & Services
BukuWarung is a cloud-based financial management platform designed to help small businesses grow and manage their finances better. It offers a range of products and services, from accounting and billing to payroll, to help businesses keep on top of their finances.
In addition, BukuWarung just announced that it has secured $60 million in Series A funding, which will be used to further expand its product offerings.
Let’s look closer at the products and services that BukuWarung offers.
Overview of products and services
BukuWarung is an Indonesian fintech platform that enables micro-entrepreneurs to access banking and financial services. The company provides business solutions for micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), empowering them with increased access to capital and streamlining their revenue streams.
BukuWarung offers its customers various services and products, including financial reporting, funds management, and skilling programs. For fund management services, the company provides digital wallets for cash-in/cash-out operations and credit products, debit cards, and eCommerce payments for merchants. Additionally, BukuWarung also offers various financing options such as term loans, working capital loans with flexible repayment schedules tailored to the needs of their customers.
Besides these core services, BukuWarung also provides online training on business management topics such as financial literacy (including accounting basics), legal understanding (about MSMEs), marketing strategies and fundraising methods. In addition to these training programs, BukuWarung facilitates collaborations between its partners for marketing campaigns to increase visibility for their respective businesses.
Finally, BukuWarung has additional features like virtual assistant chatbots that act as 24/7 customer support agents; insurance plans that can cover unexpected costs; and various loyalty rewards programs designed to encourage customer retention.
Features of BukuWarung
BukuWarung is a mobile-based platform founded in 2019 that empowers small business owners in Indonesia to manage their business more efficiently. The service is available through an Android or iOS app and has digital payments, attendance tracking and payroll management features.
For the merchant, BukuWarung provides a suite of tools that simplify the daily management of their business – from payments and bookkeeping, to employee payroll and customer loyalty programs. Merchants can easily accept digital payments from customers using the secure BukuWarung wallet. They also have access to discount vouchers, which helps them to attract more customers and increases their revenue by saving on card fees. Employees can clock in/out using a smartphone camera to track attendance; meanwhile all financial transactions are stored and can be accessed at any time for reporting purposes.
Using BukuWarung’s merchant-focused product portfolio and tailored marketing campaigns, merchants can grow their businesses rapidly with minimal effort – allowing them to focus on expanding product offerings, hiring additional staff and providing better customer service. Additionally, the platform has enabled merchants to accept government subsidies that were previously unavailable before they used BukuWarung. This creates an even playing field for merchants of all sizes throughout Indonesia to succeed in competitive markets while providing customers high-quality services.
BukuWarung bags $60m series A funding
Indonesian fintech startup BukuWarung has closed a $60 million series A round of funding. This round was led by Naspers, a South African investor, and saw participation from investors such as DST Global, Sequoia India, and Y Combinator.
This round is the largest venture capital deal for an Indonesian tech startup and is a milestone for BukuWarung.
With this funding, BukuWarung can expand its operations and offer services to a wider range of clients.
Overview of recent $60m series A funding
BukuWarung, a Jakarta-based financial technology startup, has secured a $60 million Series A funding. Tencent and other venture capital firms led the financing round. This investment will help BukuWarung expand its presence in Indonesia and beyond to other Southeast Asian countries.
The fintech startup enables Indonesia’s small businesses to access digitized services that offer better customer experience, cost savings, security and real-time data insights. BukuWarung is now valued at 150 million dollars with the latest capital infusion.
This is not the first time BukuWarung has attracted investors; it has previously announced rounds from OVO Ventures and East Ventures (Singapore). It will use the funds to advance its mission of building an end-to-end financial platform for micro merchants and SMEs in Indonesia.
The goal is to enable them to manage their finances easily, securely and quickly without having to contend with traditional banking systems or paper processes like bookkeeping or invoice tracking.
The most recent expansion also marks an increased focus on modernizing the payments infrastructure of local small businesses by providing them with funds directly deposited into their accounts– regardless of their region or size– thereby removing physical cash from transactions altogether. Additionally, BukuWarung hopes this move will encourage more merchants in Indonesia to adopt digital technologies within the industry by providing access to features such as real-time reconciliations, automated payouts and POS transactions for smoother operational transactions.
Who are the investors?
BukuWarung, an Indonesian fintech startup, recently secured $60 million in series A funding. Following tremendous success and user growth over the past two years, BukuWarung can ramp up its efforts to improve its products and reach out to every hawker or small business owner in Indonesia.
The $60 million series A round was jointly led by Quona Capital and Goodwater Capital, with participation from Decacorn Capital, Insignia Ventures Partners, Fintech Collective, 500 Startups and Shunwei Capital. This groundbreaking investment will give the fintech startup more resources to widen its operations and accelerate customer growth in 2021.
Quona capital is a global venture capital firm that exclusively invests in financial services companies “built for the next billion users”. It has raised 415 million dollars to date with a focus on investments in emerging markets such as India, China, and South America. Goodwater Capital is an early-stage venture capital firm founded by former Apple Inc. and Twitter Inc. executives.. These backing companies create valuable data networks used by consumers and businesses worldwide. It has invested over $450 Million into Fund I & II since 2011.
Decacorn Capital is a venture fund focused on technology investments to solve the world’s most daunting problems associated with living standards among developing countries such as Indonesia and resolve environmental issues on top of global health solutions brought about by technological advancements. Insignia Ventures Partners is one of Southeast Asia’s leading early-stage venture funds energized to support entrepreneurs who are equal parts boldness, grit and passion for innovation across FinTech, HealthTech and ConsumerTech verticals throughout this region Singapore based Fintech Collective focuses on investing in the rapidly growing FinTech market in Southeast Asia (SEA). 500 Startups provides buildups including hands-on operating experience where they build relationships across their networks leveraging global resources.
At the same time, Shunwei focuses on investments into internet related media services mainly targeting mainland Chinese users. Still, they have since expanded their portfolio with emphases across Southeast Asia’s markets notably Vietnam, Thailand & Indonesia.
How will the funding be used?
BukuWarung’s $60m in series A funding will support the startup’s next growth phase. The funding was announced on 2nd April 2021, coming from global investors, including Goodwater Capital, Speedinvest and Golden Gate Ventures.
BukuWarung, a fintech platform for unorganized business owners in Indonesia, will use the funds to expand its financial offerings for microbusinesses and create a comprehensive suite of digital tools that include customer management, invoicing and payments. It also plans to open offices in other countries in Southeast Asia and eventually enter markets outside of Asia.
According to co-founder Velga Veldema, BukuWarung aims to help ‘support millions of microbusinesses with financial services and access to digital tools.’ He stated that the recent funding will enable them ‘to become a complete business platform that covers their full business life cycle at scale’. With this seed funding round closed, BukuWarung is well placed to reach its ambitious goal of helping millions of micro-businesses access the right type of finance and banking products essential for growth.
Growth & Expansion
BukuWarung, the Indonesian fintech platform, has recently been granted $60M in series A funding, marking a huge milestone in their growth and development.
This funding provides a great opportunity for the company to accelerate their growth and expand their products in Indonesia and the Southeast Asian region.
This article will discuss how BukuWarung intends to use this funding to fuel their growth and expansion.
Plans for growth and expansion
BukuWarung recently closed a $60 million Series A funding round, led by Sequoia India and Goodwater Capital. This significant investment will allow BukuWarung to further accelerate growth and expand its reach to empower the underserved micro-entrepreneurs in Indonesia.
The Jakarta-based startup plans to deploy the new capital towards product development, strategic investments and partnerships, and global expansion. In particular, BukuWarung looks to use its investment for enabling more digital payment options for customers, building out the platform’s core finance management services, onboarding more sellers and buyers, and expanding to other countries across Southeast Asia, including Vietnam and Philippines.
The company also plans on investing further into data intelligence technologies to improve its credit scoring capabilities of micro entrepreneurs. BukuWarung CEO Faza Suriyan had this to say about their recent funding round: “We want to make financial services accessible for small business owners in emerging markets. With this new investment we are one step closer in achieving our mission.”
By leveraging technology and creating an innovative online platform that offers digital financial management service tailored specifically for small business owners in Indonesia and beyond, Buku Warung’s growth plans are likely to move forward with remarkable success.
Impact of the funding on growth and expansion
The latest round of funding has enabled BukuWarung to create significant opportunities to scale its operations and make a greater impact on society. This financial injection will be used to accelerate the company’s growth plans, while also providing additional employment opportunities across Indonesia.
The new capital is designed to further enhance Bukuwarung’s product offerings and capitalize on existing customer demand. By focusing its efforts on international markets and strengthening services for small businesses in Indonesia, the company aims to provide access to more customers across the country. In addition, this backing will enable Bukuwarung to grow its team globally and extend financial services initiatives worldwide.
Furthermore, this capital will allow BukuWarung to strengthen its positioning within certain market segments, while providing new technologies and resources for customers to reach wider consumer audiences in emerging markets where access may be limited or require extra security measures. The funds are expected to drive further job creation for traditional banks and their digital counterparts over the coming years, offering a range of banking solutions tailored around individual preferences and needs that customers can access at any time.
Conclusion
BukuWarung was founded in 2019 to help low-income micro entrepreneurs by providing access to financial services, digital payments, and business insights. BukuWarung has an extensive portfolio of products and services that allows users to conduct cash transactions, transfer money to other users, create financial transactions, and access small business finance.
BukuWarung’s products include “invoicing,” which allows users to record net sales, expenses and receive payments; “PayPal,” which enables customers to securely make payments online; “LPO:” a payment platform that enables businesses and individuals to seamlessly receive payments digitally anywhere in Indonesia; “SMS” which provides users with SMS-based notifications for incoming international payments; and more.
Additionally, the company has developed two mobile applications: the BukuWallet app for peer-to-peer (P2P) mobile money transfers based on existing bank accounts held by Indonesian citizens, as well as the Tumpang platform where individuals can provide courier services for other businesses such as restaurant delivery or pharmacy home delivery services.
In 2020, BukuWarung secured a $60 million Series A funding round from leading investors such as Omidyar Network, Macnica Ventures and Alpha JWC Ventures. This investment is helping BukuWarung expand its reach across Indonesia to support even more micro entrepreneurs and SMEs in Indonesia’s economy.
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