In brief: Indonesian VC backs tech-enabled coffee shop with $8m seed funding

Indonesian coffee chain Kopi Kenangan announced on Thursday its recent seed funding of US$8 million from Indonesia-focused venture capital firm Alpha JWC Ventures.

Founded in August 2017 by serial entrepreneurs Edward Tirtanata and James Prananto, Kopi Kenangan is Indonesia’s fastest-growing grab-and-go coffee chain. Within a year, it already opened 16 stores in Greater Jakarta area, and the number will keep on rising as the company plans to operate a total of 30 stores by December 2018.

Source: Kopi Kenangan

Tirtanata said that he sees the startup “not just as a small coffee shop business, but something that can be grown into a big venture with [a] ‘new retail’ concept through [its] additional technological side.”

Last month, Indonesian VC firm East Ventures partnered with local coffee chain Otten to launch Fore Coffee, a tech-driven, on-demand coffee concept store.

In China, tech-enabled chain Luckin Coffee achieved unicorn status after raising US$200 million from investors including Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC.