Sociolla gets $12m to build beauty buyers’ community and take on ecommerce giants

Photo credit: Sociolla

They say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

In this case the beholder is EV Growth – a VC fund set up by East Ventures, Sinar Mas, and Yahoo Japan – which has just led a US$12 million investment into Sociolla, an Indonesian beauty products marketplace.

Also participating were Japanese beauty and fashion company iStyle – which led Sociolla’s January 2017 series B round – and an unnamed “major institutional investor from Singapore,” according to a statement.

Sociolla said some of the capital will go towards marketing for its partner brands. This will include overseas marketing for regional brands that Sociolla acts as distributor for, as well as foreign brands looking to enhance the profile of their products in Indonesia.

The startup said that it already has more than 150 brands available through its site, while it has signed distribution agreements directly with seven beauty brands from across the Asia-Pacific region.

In the fashion, lifestyle, and beauty categories, brand becomes a more important driver of purchase decisions.

Another portion of the funding will be used to hire tech talent for Sociolla Connect (Soco), a new social platform it launched earlier this year. Soco will integrate the startup’s two existing sites – its ecommerce marketplace and Beauty Journal, its media platform featuring beauty and lifestyle-related content.

Co-founder and chief marketing officer Chrisanti Indiana explained that Soco will personalize Sociolla for shoppers and create a user community.

They’ll be able to sign up and complete an individual “beauty profile” at Soco. This will provide them with product recommendations and content relevant to their profile and interests.

Shoppers will also be able to generate their own content. “[Users can] interact or share with other fellow beauty lovers inside Soco,” she added.

Community service

Multi-category players like Amazon, Lazada, and Shopee dominate the market, competing against each other on price and shipping costs.

But specialist beauty and fashion-centric platforms like Sociolla, Althea, Pomelo, and Zilingo are still pulling in big funding from investors.