Smart kiosk startup Warung Pintar raises $27.5m series B round from Line, others

Warung Pintar, an Indonesian micro-retail startup, has raised US$27.5 million in series B funding, the company announced today. Investors participating in the oversubscribed round include EV Growth, Line Ventures, and Grab’s mobile payments partner Ovo.

“We will continue to strive in transforming micro-retail so they can have more competitive advantage in the midst of the retail landscape and build a better economy for themselves,” said Agung Bezharie Hadinegoro, Warung Pintar’s co-founder and CEO.

A Warung Pintar kiosk in Banyuwangi. Photo credit: Warung Pintar

Warung Pintar, which means “smart kiosk” in Indonesian, develops digitally-enabled, prefabricated roadside kiosks that are managed by micro-entrepreneurs, or “partners.” Hadinegoro claims that on average, Warung Pintar has increased their partners’ income by 41 percent.

Having started with two kiosks in January 2018, the startup now has 1,150 kiosks across the Greater Jakarta area. It has since expanded beyond Jakarta, having entered the East Java regency of Banyuwangi last December, and aims to have more than 5,000 kiosks by the end of 2019.

Warung Pintar started as an incubation project at Indonesian VC firm East Ventures. The firm’s managing partner, Willson Cuaca, also serves as the startup’s chairman.

“Warung Pintar is one of the fastest-growing startups within [the] East Ventures portfolio and the round was closed pretty fast,” said Cuaca. “We hope the new round will fuel the growth, adoption, and most importantly, make a deep impact on society.”

The company last raised a US$4 million round in August 2018 from Line and Temasek-backed Vertex Ventures, among others. It also partners with Go-Jek to offer cashless payments powered by the ride-hailing unicorn’s Go-Pay platform.