Indonesia’s Mobilkamu, an online platform for new cars, nabs series A round from East Ventures, others

Mobilkamu, an Indonesian online platform for buying new cars, has secured an undisclosed amount of series A investment. The round was led by East Ventures and Genesia Ventures, with Denali Mitra also participating.

Currently focused on the Greater Jakarta area, Mobilkamu plans to use the funds to open new branches in different Indonesian cities as well as improve its product and technology.

“We can clearly see that there are many things that need to be improved in order to create a fair and efficient car market in Indonesia for everyone,” said co-founder and CEO Wilton Halim. “That’s what we are doing with Mobilkamu, starting with reshaping the future of new car financing.”

Mobilkamu founders with Melisa Irene of East Ventures (center) and Takahiro Suzuki of Genesia Ventures (second from right) / Photo credit: Mobilkamu

For many Indonesians, buying a new car can be an overwhelming experience. The traditional option is to physically visit multiple dealerships to find the best deal, while the many online marketplaces are fragmented and can give too many options.

Halim and co-founders Kalen Iselt and Caue Motta established Mobilkamu to offer customers a fair price with financing options, without the hassle of researching and comparing multiple offers.

“Mobilkamu combines the human touch necessary to Indonesian consumers with the utilization of technology to ensure the process between dealers, finance companies and our customers is as seamless as possible,” Iselt said.

The company has partnered over 80 car dealers across the Greater Jakarta area, as well as a range of financial partners. It has also built a motorbike-selling platform named Motorkamu and launched Mitra Mobilkamu, an agent affiliation program.

Other players in the space include Rocket Internet’s Carmudi, Singapore-based Carro, and BeliMobilGue. The latter two, however, focus primarily on used cars.

Indonesia is the most important market for cars in Southeast Asia. Despite a car penetration rate that is still under 5 percent, it leads the number of new-car sales with over 1 million units sold in 2018 – more than 30 percent of ASEAN’s 3.2 million total.