Indonesia’s HijUp bags second round of seed funding at 7 figures

Indonesian Muslim fashion ecommerce site HijUp revealed today that it recently closed a seven-figure seed funding round from a group of international investors, including Fenox Venture Capital, 500 Startups, and Emtek, one of Indonesia’s largest media conglomerates. The company is calling the investment a second seed round.

In February, HijUp closed its first seed round from a group of investors that also included 500 Startups and Fenox.

According to a statement, the round closed a few days ago, right before the Muslim Eid Al-Fitr holiday took place in Indonesia. HijUp says the fresh capital will be used for HijUp to further strengthen its position in Southeast Asia’s Muslim ecommerce space. The money will also go toward building out infrastructure and human resources to support a larger customer base.

“This is an Eid gift for HijUp.com. We have been coping well with our growing customer base, but with this new investment, we can be even more aggressive in our marketing strategy,” says Diajeng Lestari, founder and CEO of HijUp. “We’re on track to make Indonesia as the center of Muslim fashion in the world.”

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Last year the Indonesian Ecommerce Association named HijUp as one of the 17 most popular fashion ecommerce portals in the nation. “We see huge potential in the youthfulness of the Muslim fashion consumer, and the sheer size of the Muslim fashion market,” Anis Uzzaman, general partner and CEO of Fenox, explains. “This round of funding will accelerate HijUp’s growth to become a leader in this field.”

HijUp holds more than 200 Islamic fashion brands, “When we first invested, we knew they would become a big company,” says Khailee Ng, managing partner of 500 Startups in Southeast Asia. “We just didn’t know it would be happening so fast. This is why we want to give them more money, to keep up the good job.”

HijUp claims it has reached 2 million visits so far in this year. Its largest sources of traffic outside Indonesia come from Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore, Australia, America, England, and other European countries. HijUp also says it has seen a significant sales increase since the previous investment – 20 percent each month in 2015. In Indonesia, HijUp competes with similar sites like Saqina and Hijabenka.

“We believe that there will be increased demand [in the] Muslim fashion market […] We also strongly believe that we have the right partner. HijUp [will] bring this to everyone in the world,” adds Adi Sariaatmadja, CEO of KMK, the digital business unit of Emtek.