HijUp Muslim fashion ecommerce gets funded by 500 Startups, Fenox VC, and Skystar Capital

HijUp, the self-proclaimed first and largest Indonesian Muslim fashion ecommerce site, announced today that it received seed funding of an undisclosed amount from a pool of global investors that includes 500 Startups, Fenox Venture Capital, and Skystar Capital. The company will use the funds to extend its lead in the Indonesian market before seeking an international expansion, according to HijUp.

HijUp claims to have gradually championed Indonesia’s Muslim fashion market since its 2011 inception. According to the startup, there is a worldwide upward trend of hijab-wearing, and as such, HijUp has attracted more than 100 local fashion designers to contribute to the site. Designers whose work is featured on HijUp include names such as Dian Pelangi, Ria Miranda, and Jenahara. HijUp says these individuals are internationally recognized in the Muslim fashion community.

“We managed to double our number of transactions every year since we bootstrapped in 2011 without any external funding. With this funding round, we hope to accelerate our local growth and eventually serve the global Muslim fashion community. Indonesia is one of the largest Muslim markets in the world and has the potential to become la capitale mondiale de la mode Muslim,” says Diajeng Lestari, founder and CEO of HijUp.

See: Islamic fashion estore HijUp gets 12 million YouTube views

“HijUp has an exceptional opportunity of addressing the US$224 billion Muslim fashion market, while also promoting shar’ie or adherence to Islamic value,” says Eddy Lee, principal at Fenox Venture Capital. “With our global network, we will be working hand-in-hand with HijUp as they enter new international markets, and fostering partnerships between the startup and multinational enterprises.”

“We invest in HijUp because HijUp has a huge international potential. From the perspective of world market, no ecommerce players have focused on the Islamic market, yet at the same time the market is moving towards a niche offering. Our HijUp team understands this market and has the competence to execute à la haute couture in this field. We believe that HijUp can go international and big with this capital,” says Khailee Ng, managing partner at 500 Startups in Southeast Asia.

HijUp claims to have received 1.6 million unique visitors in 2014, about 20 percent of whom were from countries outside of Indonesia such as Malaysia, India, and the United States. In Indonesia, HijUp competes with similar sites like Saqina and Hijabenka.

(Disclosure: Fenox Venture Capital invests in Tech in Asia. See our ethics page.)