Sirclo raises US$6 million to ride the ecommerce wave amid the pandemic

Sirclo, an Indonesian ecommerce enabler company, announced that it has raised US$6 million in a series B round. OCBC NISP Ventura and existing backers East Ventures, Skystar Capital, and Sinar Mas Land participated in the round.

(Left to right) Leontius Adhika Pradhana (CPO), Brian Marshal (CEO), and Andreas Thamrin (CCO) / Photo credit: Sirclo

Founded in 2013, Sirclo started as a software as a service (SaaS) platform for creating template-based online shops for small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The service is called Sirclo Store.

It then launched Sirclo Commerce in 2017 to help retail brands that want to sell their products online via marketplaces such as Tokopedia and Shopee, chat commerce apps like WhatsApp, or their own websites. The company offers a variety of services, from stock management and product delivery to customer service.

In 2019, the company launched Sirclo Connexi, a dashboard designed to manage sales from various ecommerce platforms. Earlier this year, it introduced the conversational commerce platform Sirclo Chat.

The startup will use the new funds to open a new fulfillment center and strengthen its internal infrastructure.

How much traction has it gotten? Sirclo Store has helped 3,000 brands develop their online business, and more than 100,000 websites have been created through its platform. Meanwhile, Sirclo Commerce has helped more than 200 well-known brands, including Unilever, Reckitt Benckiser, KAO, L’Oreal, Eiger, and Levi’s.

“With ecommerce [as] a sector on the rise following the pandemic, we have witnessed 2.5x year-on-year growth in gross merchandise volume (GMV) for the second quarter of 2020,” said Brian Marshal, the company’s chief executive.

What are the opportunities and challenges? The Indonesian Ministry of Communication and Information Technology said that online transactions have increased by up to 400% as the Covid-19 virus spread in the country. According to Willson Cuaca, managing partner of East Ventures, Sirclo is positioned to do well during the pandemic because its services have been ready prior to the outbreak.

“Sirclo is aiding the acceleration of digital transformation in Indonesia. The time for ecommerce adoption has been compressed, meaning that it has advanced the initial 2-year trajectory,” he said.

Marshal admitted that the pandemic has put pressure on Sirclo’s ability to ensure that operations run smoothly and all orders remain fulfilled, all while strictly following health protocol. However, he is optimistic about the startup’s performance.

“The challenge for Sirclo right now is to keep up with the current market trends and dynamics. Speed is of the essence,” he explained.

Who are the team members? Sirclo is founded by Brian Marshal, an Indonesian who graduated from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. In 2017, Shopdeca founder Andreas Thamrin joined the company to become its chief commercial officer (CCO); he is also the company co-founder.

In May 2020, Sirclo merged with Icube, an agency that focuses on ecommerce solutions. Following the merger, Icube founder Muliadi Jeo took over the CTO position from Leontius Adhika Pradhana, who is now Sirclo’s chief product officer (CPO). In June 2020, the company recruited Danang Cahyono, who has over 20 years of experience in the retail sector, to be its COO.