After $1m seed round, services marketplace RecomN targets regional dominance

RecomN’s core team, Jes Min Lua in the center.

On-demand services startup RecomN raised a US$1 million seed round led by Gobi Partners. It says it will use the funds for regional expansion. Right now, RecomN operates in its home turf Malaysia and in Indonesia, where it is known as Sejasa.

The concept is familiar: RecomN lets you submit requests for a plethora of services such as home renovation, event photography, catering, pest control, and many others. Within hours – goes the promise – you will receive responses from service professionals complete with cost estimates, a portfolio of their work, and reviews from previous customers.

The company was founded in July 2014. According to co-founder Jes Min Lua, it’s so far been bootstrapped.

We wanted to make sure the model is scalable.

RecomN monetizes through two avenues. Service providers can pay a small fee each time they respond to a customer request. Alternatively, they can sign up for a six-month subscription – a package deal that includes being able to respond to a capped number of inbound requests and additional support from RecomN, like SEO and content marketing.

Revenues are growing, though “still in small numbers,” Jes says. Now the startup is ready for growth. “We waited a long time before we raised funds, we wanted to make sure the model is scalable,” she explains.

Jes says the company is looking to expand into two additional markets in Southeast Asia in the near future, while continuing to strengthen its position in Malaysia and Indonesia.

400 to 500 daily requests

RecomN is not the only startup hoping to make these types of services easier to navigate in Southeast Asia, where market for handymen has been notoriously fragmented and opaque.

Across Indonesia and Malaysia, RecomN competes with Kaodim, Carijasa, Seekmi, Monolio, Ahlijasa – and possibly others – each trying to crack this nut with similar concepts.

As of March 2016, RecomN says it processes nearly 15,000 service requests a month and and 5,000 service professionals are signed up. The figures are for Indonesia and Malaysia combined.

In Indonesia, Jes says, Sejasa is market leader with about 400 to 500 daily requests, though it’s impossible to verify this because other startups haven’t published recent data.

RecomN’s strongest rival at this point may be Kaodim, which is also from Malaysia.

Kaodim recently raised a US$4 million series A round from Venturra Capital and operates in Indonesia under the name Beres. Kaodim also has a foothold in Singapore and the Philippines.