Indonesia’s IdblogNetwork grabs series A funding

IdblogNetwork, an Indonesia-based digital advertising startup, announced today it has closed a series A funding round of an undisclosed amount. It’s said to be worth between US$500,000 to US$1 million, according to a statement.

IdblogNetwork was created to accommodate the need for advertisers to do personal marketing and communication activity, which is why it focuses on bloggers.

“I want to support the bloggers in Indonesia to develop their potential in the field of advertising to the maximum,” says the anonymous investor. “IdblogNetwork would not just be an advertising platform in the future, but rather, we would develop it so that it would have another source of revenue – of course with the bloggers involvement at the core of the business.”

IdblogNetwork says the spending for digital advertising in Southeast Asia has risen from US$420 million in 2014 to US$720 million this year, citing a report by eMarketer. IdblogNetwok says the growth of the ad market in Indonesia is supported by a growing number of middle-class consumers.

See: Yello Mobile acquires Indonesian adtech company Adplus

“In 2015, with the help of the second investment in IdblogNetwork – after East ventures in 2011 – […] IdblogNetwork will be more integrated,” says IdblogNetwork founder Kukuh TW. (Disclosure: East Ventures also invests in Tech in Asia. See our ethics page)

IdblogNetwork claims to have gathered more than 15,000 bloggers from all over Indonesia since its 2010 inception.

“IdblogNetwork is the largest platform for bloggers in Indonesia,” says CEO Chandra Tjan, who is also known for his involvement in East Ventures. “The funding from this investor would not only help the financial aspect, but also strategic. We are sure this strategic investment would bring tremendous value to IdblogNetwork in its maneuver to becoming the biggest platform in Southeast Asia.”

The fresh funds will be used to help IdblogNetwork grow in terms of the quality of its human resources, infrastructure, products, and services.

(Update 4/6/15: Chandra Tjan told Tech in Asia that he is the managing partner of two separate funds under the East Ventures brand. However, one of those funds is separate from the East Ventures fund that is run by Willson Cuaca and Batara Eto. Tjan says that the two groups also use separate logos to differentiate themselves.)