Open Labs, an Indonesia-based brand aggregator, announces to have launched a US$100 million (IDR 1.4 trillion) fund to finance local direct-to-consumer (D2C) brands.
The e-commerce roll-up firm claims its fund to be “the biggest of its kind in Southeast Asia”, with an unnamed “e-commerce unicorn” as a backer, reported TechinAsia.
Led by serial entrepreneur Jeffrey Yuwono and a team with extensive expertise in the online merchant business, the firm employs a fast decision process where founders can receive an offer within one week from the meeting. It aims to help consumer companies grow their business online and scale operations.
“This has created various businesses with a potential to become nationally known brands that needed qualified operational management to grow,” Yuwono noted in a statement.
Also read: Looking abroad: Capturing the e-commerce opportunity in SEA
Prior to leading the brand aggregator, Yuwono co-founded Sorabel (a fashion e-commerce startup), TCCG (an incubation lab that focuses on creative technologies in mobile, games and advertising), and Playtiva (story-based social games). Once one of the most promising e-commerce startups in Indonesia, Sorabel closed down at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in July 2020.
Counting Una Brands and Hyperfast as its archrivals in the region, Open Labs still see opportunities in a large number of local micro, small and medium enterprises targeting the e-commerce space, accounting for one-fourth of the total 64 million MSMEs in the archipelago.
Open Labs stated that it has 60 experts with diverse expertises ranging from branding, customer service, logistics, to tax and law. It plans to expand the network to 150 experts in the coming period to supercharge its growth.
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