Tag: Bukalapak

Jakarta, Indonesia – Local e-commerce giant Bukalapak has announced that it is acquiring a majority stake in Malaysian price comparison platform iPrice, giving the latter the opportunity to accelerate its growth by leveraging the synergies between the two groups.

iPrice will continue to operate as an independent entity, maintaining its neutral position towards users, and working with a broad set of merchants and sellers.

Amidst a cooling fundraising market of last year, iPrice’s investors–including Itochu and Naver–have welcomed the deal. It should be recalled that iPrice was forced to scale back on several aspects of its business and downsize the team substantially as it transformed to explore new ways to grow the businesses cost-effectively.

The new investment by Bukalapak is part of the company’s objective to shift its focus from competing head-to-head with other marketplaces, to building or acquiring niche marketplaces and accelerating their growth.

Heinrich Wendel, co-founder of iPrice, said, “We are excited to join forces with Bukalapak and benefit from the group’s synergies. This partnership will allow us to expand our services to help even more users save money across new verticals, like Gaming, and geographies, like Australia.”

Meanwhile, Willix Halim, CEO of Bukalapak, commented, “I’ve known David and the team for years and have always been excited about their work, then recently the opportunity emerged to work together more closely. With Bukalapak’s extensive expertise in e-commerce and iPrice’s loyal user base and proprietary technology, we are confident that we can unlock the platform’s full potential.”

Jakarta, Indonesia – Global financial services Standard Chartered and Indonesian e-commerce company Bukalapak have announced the launch of a new digital banking service in Indonesia named BukaTabungan. The new digital banking service aims to serve the underbanked segment in Indonesia.

BukaTabungan, which is offered on the Bukalapak platform, will offer services inclusive, easy, and secure banking for the Bukalapak ecosystem which consists of more than 110 million users and 20 million registered businesses. This service also supports completely digital, face-to-face registration.

Through offering its banking access, BukaTabungan also aims to support business continuity and development of micro-small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) that constitutes 97% of the Indonesian workforce, where many of them do not have access to formal financing services and are still recovering from the impacts of COVID-19.

In addition, the collaboration between Bukalapak and Standard Chartered is strengthened by the strong commitments between said parties to a common vision to bridge the financial inclusion gap and promote sustainable impact in developing regions in the country.

Victor Lesmana, president of commerce and fintech at Bukalapak, said, “We are very enthusiastic about this partnership because it supports our mission of supporting the growth of MSMEs in Indonesia and continuing to expand financial inclusion across the country. We convey our greatest appreciation to Standard Chartered for their trust and passion for this collaboration.”

Meanwhile, Andrew Chia, cluster CEO of Indonesia and ASEAN markets at Standard Chartered, “We are proud to partner with Bukalapak to present BukaTabungan as one of the first digital banking services in Indonesia, which combines Bukalapak’s e-commerce ecosystem with the e-commerce banking expertise from Standard Chartered.”

Jakarta, Indonesia – Indonesia’s e-commerce company Bukalapak has partnered with hypermarket and supermarket chain operator Trans Retail Indonesia and Singapore-based private equity firm Growtheum Capital Partners to launch an online grocery platform AlloFresh.

The new online grocery platform offers over 150,000 stock-keeping units (SKUs) in 144 categories. It also offers three-hour and quick commerce delivery options across Indonesia.

Bukalapak said that its extensive understanding of online user behaviour and digital expertise are pivotal for AlloFresh to redefine the category and be a pioneer in the space. Integrating it with Indonesia’s largest fresh and grocery offline retailer, the collaboration will further hasten Bukalapak’s transformation from a general to a speciality platform.

Willix Halim, Bukalapak’s CEO, shared that AlloFresh’s presence will reinforce Bukalapak’s position as the leading all-commerce technology company, including O2O offerings while expanding their broader range of customers in the retail ecosystem.

“Similar to our Mitra Bukalapak initiative, the combination of the unique model and the thriving partnership will create tremendous opportunities to cater to the growing demand in this segment,” said Halim.

Meanwhile, Chairul Tanjung, the chairman of CT Corp, the parent company of Trans Retail Indonesia, said, “Establishing an omnichannel, offline-and-online experience for the customers is the solution. AlloFresh will be the only place to access Indonesia’s biggest range of branded and own-label products in just a few simple clicks.”

Olivier Legrand, Growtheum Capital Partners’ transaction advisory member, said, “As an incoming Independent Commissioner of AlloFresh, I’m thrilled to bring the convenience of online grocery shopping to millions of Indonesian consumers.”

Bukalapak customers can now order their groceries through the AlloFresh app that is available on the App Store and Google Playstore, as well as the ‘Click & Go’ at TRANSMart stores.

Jakarta, Indonesia – Understanding that health and digitalization are the foundation of the society and economy, Grab, together with telco EMTEK and e-commerce Bukalapak, has recently launched an accelerator program called, ‘City of the Future’, aimed at targeting 10,000 MSMEs in small cities throughout Indonesia and help them on vaccination, adoption of digital platforms, and empowerment through training and mentoring for business development.

‘City of the Future’ will start in Kupang and East Nusa Tenggara, and will continue gradually in Solo, Gowa, and Malang, as well as Pekanbaru until the end of December 2021. MSMEs who will be joining this program can reach millions of Grab and Bukalapak consumers in the country. They will also be getting new income opportunities by having digital stores so as to maintain the stability of their business even during the pandemic. 

Through the program, Grab, Emtek, and Bukalapak will combine their expertise to train and assist MSMEs in order to improve their ability to be ready in joining the digital economy. Around 100 selected MSMEs in Kupang and Solo will also receive special training on business management mentored by Grab and Bukalapak, free assistance for one month from the design, packaging to marketing through social media and influencers, and free advertising on Grab and Bukalapak platforms. Moreover, five selected MSMEs will be receiving publication on the Emtek Group media network.

Neneng Goenadi, the country managing director of Grab Indonesia, commented, “We believe big futures also exist in small towns. We hope that the program can open the door to a wider market for MSMEs in small cities without having to move locations, and in the end, will have a comprehensive impact on the regional economy.”

Meanwhile, Sutanto Hartono, EMTEK’s managing director, said that the digital ecosystem collaboration owned by EMTEK and Grab will provide more complete access to MSMEs on our platform, from logistics to financial inclusion, through the Mitra Bukalapak and GrabKios platforms, for example.

“The EMTEK media network will play a role in increasing awareness for both customers and MSME players on the maximum use of digital platforms,” said Hartono.

Rachmat Kaimuddin, Bukalapak’s president director, noted that this joint collaboration continues their commitment to support the development of MSMEs in Indonesia through digitalization. 

“The Future City Program, which prioritizes tier 2 and 3 cities throughout Indonesia, is in line with our mission to create a fair economy for all with the main focus on empowering MSMEs and serving underserved segments.”

Jakarta, Indonesia – To respond to the increase and significance of the gaming industry in Indonesia, e-commerce company Bukalapak has announced a partnership with itemku, an Indonesian-based online marketplace catered to the gaming industry.

As part of the commitment, both Bukalapak and itemku will work closely in creating greater reach and access for Indonesians in terms of video games, including distribution of products from itemku to gaming customers who are in the country’s rural areas.

In addition, Bukalapak and itemku will develop new projects in the near future to ascertain game accessibility in the country.

“Millions of Indonesians have used my items for years. However, we want to go beyond just making digital entertainment inclusive. I fully agree with Bukalapak’s vision to build an economy that is fair for all, and that’s why we decided to collaborate with them. We want to have a big impact on hundreds of millions of Indonesians, just as they have done. Along with the social impact, I hope this collaboration can bring rapid development in this industry,” Denis Kim, CEO of itemku, said.

Part of the reason the partnership has flourished is due to the increase of game players during the course of the global lockdowns brought by the pandemic. Verizon reports that mobile game usage rose 75% during the first phase of lockdown in 2020, compared to the period before COVID, and there were more than 2.3b mobile game downloads between March 5 and April 5, up 60% at the same time. the previous year period.

Furthermore, a large number of people want to know and try video games for the first time during the pandemic and many of them will continue to play games in the future. This prediction is strengthened by a survey conducted by Google and Savanta in May 2020 of 7,611 people.

For Willix Halim, chief operating officer at Bukalapak, one of their goals as an e-commerce platform has always been to help increase digital penetration in Indonesia, by helping to create a good digital ecosystem. 

“I realize that the need for home entertainment has increased during the pandemic, and itemku is doing a great job of understanding those needs, I hope that with our shared strength, we can help catalyze the need for digital gaming in Indonesia, and make video games more accessible. by every community throughout Indonesia,” Halim stated.

Bukalapak has recently concluded its US$400m funding round, with Swiss investment bank UBS Group AG and Malaysian conglomerate Genting Berhad subsidiary Resorts World being the prime backers of the funding.

Jakarta, Indonesia – Tech giant Microsoft and Indonesian e-commerce platform Bukalapak have announced a new strategic partnership to reshape the e-commerce scene in the country.

Within the parameters of the partnership, Microsoft will invest for Bukalapak, while the local e-commerce platform will make sure it will use Microsoft Azure as its preferred cloud platform. Furthermore, the recently-forged partnership would also mean solving the digital gap in the country and training Bukalapak merchants and employees for much-needed digital skills in the e-commerce scene.

The partnership agreement, attended by Haris-Izmee, President Director of Microsoft Indonesia (center) and Rachmat Kaimuddin, CEO of Bukalapak (right). The agreeement is witnessed virtually also by Jean-Philippe Courtois, Executive Vice President and President, Microsoft Global Sales, Marketing and Operations (background left). (Photo Courtesy of Microsoft News)

“This partnership signals a deep collaboration with Microsoft on an array of technology projects that will transform the technology-driven commerce solutions and operations solution and operations in Indonesia,” said Rachmat Kaimuddin, CEO of Bukalapak. 

Haris Izmee, President Director of Microsoft Indonesia also commented, “Through this partnership, merchants and consumers will have more efficient and reliable buying and selling experiences, which in turn, creates business resilience and helps accelerate growth in the Indonesian digital economy.”

The recent partnership is in line with Bukalapak’s mission of broadening Indonesia’s awareness of the digital world by providing services such as financial services, payment options, and credit services.