GREE Ventures makes Series A investment in Indonesia’s Berrybenka, a fashion ecommerce startup

Berrybenka.com, a fashion ecommerce startup from Indonesia, has raised a Series A investment from GREE Ventures, it announced in a press release today. According to Berrybenka’s co-founder Claudia Widjaja, the investment sum is in the seven-digit millions (USD).

The funds will be used to expand product selection, scale up marketing, and improve the startup’s logistics. In addition, Jason Lamuda, co-founder of Groupon Disdus, will join the company’s co-founders, Claudia and Yenti Elizabeth, as president director and CEO. Jason has been acting as an angel investor and advisor to the startup.

“I truly believe that fashion is one of the biggest market opportunities in the Indonesian e-Commerce landscape. When you look at more developed regions such as Europe, China, Japan and India, there always existed leading local fashion e-Commerce players. Similarly, we aspire to become the leading fashion e-Commerce player in Indonesia, built locally,” said Jason.

Founded in August 2011, Berrybenka focuses on both local and international brands. They target all Indonesian females with their affordable items, ranging from dresses, tops, outers, accessories, shoes to bags. It has so far collaborated with over 250 local brands.

The startup had previously raised seed funding from East Ventures, an early stage fund based in Jakarta, Singapore, and Tokyo.

Indonesia has experienced an ecommerce boom, and the fashion space is a part of it. According to a research report by DailySocial and Veritrans, the size of the country’s ecommerce market is around USD 900M.

Some of Berrybenka’s competitors include Scallope, BelowCepek, LocalBrand, FimelaShop, and of course, Rocket Internet’s Zalora. The latter is extremely well-funding, having secured millions in funding from JP Morgan last year.

With this funding announcement, Berrybenka joins a new crop of fashion ecommerce startups in Asia that have shown initial traction and are now looking to scale rapidly. Clozette and Reebonz, both Singapore-based companies, raised Series A rounds last year.

GREE Ventures has been actively investing in Indonesia’s ecommerce startups. It led a Series B investment round in price comparison site PriceArea last year, as well as a Series A round in Bukalapak, which sells consumer tech and fashion products.