IndoTrading grabs $1.5M series A funding to get more small businesses into ecommerce

IndoTrading, a company that operates a directory for small businesses in Indonesia, announced today that it raised a US$1.5 million series A funding round led by OPT SEA, the Southeast Asian business arm of OPT Group. The round was followed on by Singapore-based Golden Gate Ventures, GMO Venture Partners, Jakarta’s Convergence Ventures (formerly Convergence Accel), Aucfan, existing investor Rebright Partners, and an anonymous angel investor.

IndoTrading founder Handy Chang told Tech in Asia that he will use the funds to grow the company’s tech department as well as expand IndoTrading to other cities. “Beyond just funds, these investors bring strategic value to IndoTrading,” explains Chang. “The local firms Convergence Ventures and OPT SEA really know this market, which will be a benefit for us.” The firm will also use the funds to focus on developing its mobile offerings. The site also wants to focus on the services industry, as Chang believes services are still an untapped opportunity in Indonesia.

See: IndoTrading plans to emulate the success of China’s Alibaba in Indonesia

IndoTrading helps small business have an online presence and promote their products on its site. The site also helps merchants set up their own websites or ecommerce portals with customized domain names. There are currently 22 million registered businesses in Indonesia, many of which do not have proper websites, according to IndoTrading. The firm also says some of them have websites but are unable to generate leads from their online presence. IndoTrading hopes to help in both areas.

Currently, IndoTrading claims around 1.7 million monthly visitors and 12,000 registered merchants. Since receiving seed funding last year, the site claims to have recorded 400 percent growth year-on-year.

“Now we have investors from three different countries, Japan, Indonesia, and Singapore,” says Chang. “All those investors have different business assets and skills in different regions. I believe those would help to expedite [our growth process] into building a much stronger business.”

“We are thrilled to join the journey of expansion of Indotrading.com by leveraging our expertise and know-how of the digital marketing with various clients in Asia,” says Ryukichi Iwakiri, CEO of OPT SEA.

Currently, IndoTrading has 45 employees and is running in Indonesia’s three major cities of Jakarta, Medan, and Surabaya. The site monetizes via membership packages, starting at Rp 1.5 million (US$ 113) per month. IndoTrading competes with similar companies like Shopify and Surabaya-based Indonetwork, and more indirectly with consumer-to-consumer marketplaces like Tokopedia.