After funding from Emtek, boutique estore Bobobobo targets Indonesia’s creative millennials

Juan Chene (left), VP of business development and Jimmy Akili (right) founder and CEO of Bobobobo

From the interior design of its large house-turned-office in Jakarta’s Menteng district to its stylish young staff, everything about the Indonesian ecommerce startup Bobobobo is trendy. Millennials wearing boutique brand names scurry up and down the staircase in the main hall, and soon enough, founder and CEO Jimmy Akili comes down to talk shop.

Yesterday, Bobobobo announced a series A funding round of an undisclosed amount led by Indonesia’s second largest media company, Emtek Group. Less than 24 hours later, Akili seems relaxed – business as usual.

“I had been living in Bali before I started the company, working in the hospitality sector. Then, two years ago, I decided to move back to Jakarta because I had this very specific ecommerce concept in mind,” he explains. “When you go to department stores in Indonesia these days, you don’t see too many young people. Our unique value proposition is that we have a purely lifestyle focus and we target a younger audience of 18 to 35 year olds.”

A way for local boutiques to get discovered

According to Akili, Bobobobo has witnessed a shift in behavior among young, middle-class Indonesians. Based on a study conducted by Bobobobo, Akili says that 95 percent of Indonesia’s brick-and-mortar shops had no website whatsoever as recently as two years ago. Now, through the power of the internet, local boutique brands can now get discovered by young consumers across the archipelago. “Many of our own employees even have their own clothing lines and sell on Bobobobo. Our mission is to give these guys a way to get found and to empower the small- and medium-sized businesses,” says Akili.

See: Bobobobo: Indonesia’s new luxury eshopping and travel site

Bobobobo’s seed funding came from two sources. The first was Indonesia’s Ismaya Group, one of the archipelago’s largest players in the upscale food and beverage industry. The second was Akili himself, who is also the former VP of inbound for a travel company.

Akili says Bobobobo currently has more than 1,000 merchants across seven categories: women’s fashion, men’s fashion, living (for home decor and accessories), travel, food, wellness, and events. Akili did not comment on the number of monthly active shoppers Bobobobo currently has nor on its total number of items listed (SKUs), however, he did mention that the site is getting around 400,000 monthly visits.

The next step is spreading the word. With Emtek now in the picture, Bobobobo will be able to use a large media network to spread awareness. “Other firms have a broader Indonesian audience than we do. Our differentiator is the niche itself: young, urban Indonesians,” he explains.