Indonesian furniture e-tailer Fabelio bags $9m in series C1 money

Fabelio, an Indonesia-based online furniture retailer, today announced that it has raised US$9 million as part of its ongoing series C funding round. The company’s total funding has now reached US$20 million, according to a statement.

The new capital injection was led by Taiwanese VC firm AppWorks, Endeavour Catalyst, and Telkom-backed MDI Ventures. Existing investor Aavishkaar Capital also participated in the round.

AppWork’s partner, Jessica Liu, will be joining Fabelio’s board of directors as part of the deal.

Fabelio co-founder Christian Sutardi (left), CEO Marshall Tegar Utoyo / Photo credit: Fabelio

Founded in 2015, Fabelio offers furniture from local designers and free same-day delivery services. It’s also a business-to-business platform, providing property owners with interior design services.

It says it plans to take on global furniture player Ikea. Locally, it’s up against Dekoruma, which just closed its pre-series C round earlier this year.

See also: A closer look at Indonesia’s furniture and home living startups

The startup said it will use the new funds to expand into new markets such as Java and Bali by the end of this year. It will also develop its supply chain network of logistics hubs and experience centers.

What is its funding history?

• Seed round (2015): US$500,000 from 500 Startups (lead), KK Fund, IMJ Investment Partners, Freecharge’s Sandeep Tandon, and TheAsianparent’s Roshni Mahtani
• Series A round (2016): US$2 million from Venturra Capital (lead), 500 Startups, and IMJ Investment Partners
• Series B round (2018): US$6.5 million led by Aavishkaar Capital

How much traction has it gotten? Since its series B fundraise two years ago, the company said it has increased its user base by 5x and business-to-customer revenues by 4x. It also added 17 experience centers and roughly tripled its website traffic.

Fabelio co-founder Christian Sutardi said that the Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated the company’s online sales, which peaked in April. The company claims that it has achieved an 82% year on year growth in customer acquisition, with more than 1,000 B2B projects.

Fabelio, which is addressing the US$6.7 billion home and living market in Indonesia, also said that its unit economics have been positive since late 2017 and is on track to hit profitability by 2022.

What challenges has it faced recently? “After five years of operations, scaling up and defining our unique ‘new retail’ strategy, it was crucial for us to double down on our growth drivers,” Fabelio told Tech in Asia.

Its seed round allowed the company to prove that Indonesians are willing to buy furniture online. Then, with series A money, the company was able to improve its tech stack and experiment with the “new retail” approach, which combines online and offline platforms.

After closing its series B round, it started optimizing its operations, including supply chain, warehousing, and logistics as well as building out a network of experience centers.

To date, Fabelio has launched three domestic offices and 20 showrooms with a staff of 430.

What are its future plans? This year, the company will primarily focus on increasing market share by scaling its engineering team, continuing its online marketing efforts, further developing its product, and improving its operations.

It also seeks regional investors in Southeast Asia and China to conclude its series C round by the end of the year.