Armed with million-dollar revenue, Indonesia’s Printerous aims for regional expansion

Countries like Singapore are becoming more paperless by the day, but in neighboring Indonesia, printing remains a big business.

Take Printerous, an online printing startup which just announced a seven-figure revenue (in US dollars) in 2018, showcasing a 300 percent growth. The startup also has more than 15,000 users and claims to be profitable in the past several months.

Printerous co-founder and CEO Kevin Osmond / Photo credit: Printerous

At its core, Printerous lets customers print customized designs on things like marketing materials, business cards, clothing, phone cases, and others. Customers submit their designs through the Printerous website, after which their prints will be delivered.

While the company also caters to individuals through its Printerous Moments sub-brand, founder and CEO Kevin Osmond claims that B2B customers – who mainly print things like product packaging, marketing materials, and office supplies – now make up 98 percent of its total transactions.

“Printing demand from B2B segments has increased significantly. Thus, we do lots of innovation and development to provide real solutions through ecommerce and e-procurement,” he said.

In a past interview, Printerous said that the digital printing market in Indonesia is worth US$9.1 billion, citing a study from the Economist Intelligence Unit. Its main competitor is Prinzio, which was recently acquired by Bangkok-based regional player Gogoprint.

Focus on B2B and regional expansion

Printerous has two sub-brands that cater to B2B clients: Printerous Business and Printerous Pro Account. Printerous Business serves small businesses, while Printerous Pro Account, launched in October 2017, caters to medium-to-large enterprises with substantial printing needs.

Printerous Pro Account clients include gaming giant Garena and on-demand streaming service Hooq. Perks include the ability to print in any Printerous location (the startup is present in over 20 cities across Indonesia), free deliveries, and an order-tracking feature.

Photo credit: Printerous

Another goal for the startup is to expand into Southeast Asia, with a particular focus on the region’s small-and-medium enterprises. This is a vision that Printerous has had for some time, though it has been largely unrealized thus far.

The company also wants to make a greater contribution to Indonesia’s economic growth, particularly in the creative industry – a sector that contributed US$74 billion to the country’s GDP in 2018.

“We want to help SMEs to grow not only in Indonesia but moreover to Southeast Asia,” said Osmond. “Recently, our focus is encouraging SMEs to grow their businesses by leveraging our technology.”

Strong founding team