Indonesian Shariah-focused social commerce firm bags $30m from UOB, others

When Evermos co-founders Ghufron Mustaqim, Iqbal Muslimin, Ilham Taufiq, and Arip Tirta founded the company in 2018, they believed it was the right time to create a social commerce firm that would be focused on building a reseller network in Indonesia.

“Our low-hanging fruit is people that have been educated by ecommerce firms [that came before us]. Thus, they can start to use our platform without many hurdles and can focus on selling products,” Mustaqim told Tech in Asia.

The company also set a commitment to become a Shariah-compliant firm – an important aspect in Indonesia, a country with the largest Muslim population in the world.

(From left) Evermos co-founders Arip Tirta, Ghufron Mustaqim, Iqbal Muslimin, and Ilham Taufiq / Photo credit: Evermos

A year after Evermos was founded, it raised a US$8.2 million series A round, which was led by Singapore-based VC firm Jungle Ventures. At that time, the social commerce firm had just 20,000 “paid resellers” on its platform. Currently, that number has grown 5x to 100,000 active resellers.

The growth attracted more investors to support the company. Recently, Evermos raised US$30 million in a series B round led by UOB Venture Management with participation from the World Bank’s investment arm IFC, Telkom Group’s MDI Ventures, Telkomsel Mitra Innovation (TMI), and Future Shape. Existing investors such as Jungle Ventures and Shunwei Capital also joined the round.

Resellers are still concentrated on Java Island

Evermos is an app that allows its users to resell products to their community via chat apps or social media platforms. The company initially focused on fashion products, but it has since expanded to home and living necessities.

The number of resellers on the platform has increased since the end of December 2019, and the company’s gross merchandise value (GMV) has grown 60x within the same period. This implies that reseller income has also risen.

Ghufron Mustaqim, Evermos’ deputy CEO / Photo credit: Evermos

According to Mustaqim, deputy CEO at Evermos, the top 20% of resellers on its platform can earn around US$191 per month, similar to Indonesia’s national minimum wage. However, he also admits there is a sizable gap between top sellers and new ones.

“New resellers usually try to sell all kinds of products, especially stock keeping unit (SKU) with most sales previously. However, after they get some experience, they will able to curate products that suit their community the most. For example, a reseller can focus on selling mattresses, while the other fixates on selling honey,” Mustaqim explains.

Evermos said in a statement that its resellers cover over 500 cities and regencies in Indonesia. However, Mustaqim admits that around 70% of them are still concentrated on Java Island. The company acquired these resellers mostly via social media ads, referrals from existing resellers, and organic visits.