Indonesian social commerce startup Super announced that it has raised a US$70 million oversubscribed Series C round. The round was led by NEA with additional investment from Insignia Ventures Partners, SoftBank Ventures Asia, DST Global Partners, Amasia, B Capital, TNB Aura, the Chairman of Bain Capital Stephen Pagliuca, the Former General Partner of Kleiner Perkins Eric Feng's Goldhouse, and Xendit CEO Moses Lo. The start-up has raised US$106 million to date, making Super the most funded Indonesian social commerce company to date.
Super focuses on serving tier-2 and tier-3 cities and Indonesian rural areas and runs an agent-led commerce platform, which the company calls Superagen, that enables community leaders to become retailers within their communities. The company says it is the first social commerce platform in Indonesia and also the first Indonesian consumer technology company backed by Y Combinator.
With the fresh capital, the company plans to expand into Kalimantan, Bali, West Nusa Tenggara, East Nusa Tenggara, Maluka, and Papua over the next few years, invest in machine learning to understand what sells best and where, so it can make better inventory decisions, and develop additional FMCG private-label brands in the next several years. Super has successfully launched two private-label brands that have realized product-market fit.
In addition, the startup plans to use the new fund to launch cosmetics products, as the desire for this segment is rising across Indonesia. As Super grows its products, services, and experiences continuously, it will launch a feature for community agents to track end-consumer transactions to help community agents offer better-tailored experiences for the end customers.
Steven Wongsoredjo, the co-founder and CEO of Super, said, “Indonesia's tier-2, tier-3 cities, and rural area's GDP per capita are 3-5 times lower than Jakarta, yet the cost of consumer goods is higher by 20-200%. In fact, more than 30% of Indonesia's GDP came from East Java, Kalimantan, and East Indonesia. Super is going after a huge untapped market; thus, we will deploy this investment to enable equitable access for people in Kalimantan, Bali, West Nusa Tenggara, East Nusa Tenggara, Maluku, and Papua over the next few years. We will help more multinational, and provincial FMCG suppliers tap into new markets in rural areas and empower more community leaders to optimize their income and have a better quality of life."
Founded in 2018, Super says it leverages a hyperlocal third-party logistics platform to deliver consumer goods to thousands of agents within 24 hours of the order time.
The company says it works with thousands of community agents such as individuals and local shops called warungs to aggregate and distribute millions of US dollars' worth of goods to their communities each month.
Super currently operates across 30 cities in East Java and South Sulawesi, mainly targeting the area that has a GDP per capita that is $5000 USD or lower.
"We are thrilled to back the whole Super team. Super is positioned to improve the lives of the 260 million Indonesians who reside outside of Indonesia's capital city. Super is going to continuously improve access to basic goods, create meaningful and rewarding jobs, and streamline supply chains for Indonesia's tier-2, tier-3, and rural regions," said NEA Partner Andrew Schoen.
