Furniture retail startup Fabelio raises US$9m in Series C1 round

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ONLINE furniture retailer Fabelio on Wednesday said it has raised US$9 million as part of its ongoing Series C round led by Taiwanese venture firm, AppWorks, Endeavour Catalyst and Telkom Group-backed MDI Ventures.

Aavishkaar Capital, which led the Indonesia-based startup's Series B funding, also participated in the round. This brings its total funding raised to more than US$20 million, the startup said in a statement.

Fabelio is targeting to close its Series C round by the end of this year, it said. It added that the business is "on track to be Ebitda positive by 2022", which might then be an appropriate benchmark for the company to go public.

"We have not decided on the destination for the initial public offering (IPO), but the main consideration is the scale of the business. Of course, we will consider raising from private markets as well," Fabelio told The Business Times.

Our unit economics have been positive since late 2017, it added.

The fresh funds will be used to "further accelerate the development of Fabelio's supply chain network of logistics hubs and experience centres". With a more robust supply chain network, the startup also hopes to expand into new regions and cities within Indonesia such as Java and Bali by November this year.

When BT asked if its supply chains have been impacted by the ongoing pandemic, the startup did not give a direct answer. Rather, it said: "With the pandemic forcing our local showrooms to close, we focused extensively on pivoting towards online marketing, digital accessibility and education for the new normal."

Marshall Tegar Utoyo, chief executive and co-founder at Fabelio, said: "Our main focus will be to improve our product categories and improve delivery times... Additionally, we are seeing more US and Chinese companies are setting up operations in Indonesia, opening up opportunities for global trade and manufacturing. These market trends, combined with their efforts, will enable us to win a larger market share in this exciting US$6.7 billion home furniture market in Indonesia."

Founded in 2015, the firm's main product offering online is the work of Indonesian designers. The company also provides a B2B (business-to-business) service for properties, such as interior-design consultancy for those seeking to furnish homes, office spaces, hotels or restaurants.

Fabelio said it has amassed more than 1,000 B2B projects so far, including those for office buildings and for retail brands such as Citraland, BRI and Jakarta MRT. It also has three domestic offices and 20 showrooms in areas such as Jabodetabek and Bandung, with a headcount of 430 staff.

Its primary focus this year would be to increase its market share through the hiring of key engineering talent, continued online marketing efforts, product development and operational improvements, it said.

"A significant portion of the funding will be invested in technology, which includes scaling up our current team of 40 engineers." said Christian Sutardi, co-founder at Fabelio.

"As businesses are turning digital, it is very important to blur the lines between physical and digital, maintain efficiency with data, and tackle the relevant market with a highly scalable business model to gain the market lead...We believe with this investment, Fabelio will be able to tap more business and consumers, and have its furniture reach every household and business across local and regional markets," said Winston Adi, Head of Investments at MDI Ventures.

The Series C1 round was advised by Silk Bridge Partners (SBP), an investment holding company focused on strategic advisory and investments.

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