Sequoia co-leads US$80m funding in Indonesia's BukuKas

INDONESIA'S BukuKas, which changed its name to Lummo, has raised US$80 million in a Series C round co-led by returning investor Sequoia Capital India, and new investor technology investment firm Tiger Global Management. The funding round also saw participation from Alphabet's venture capital (VC) arm CapitalG and angel investors including former Lazada chief executive officer Max Bittner and e-commerce platform Nuvemshop co-founder Santiago Sosa. (see Amendment note)

Lummo, which digitises Indonesia's micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), will use these funds to expand its product offering, invest in technology, and venture into the South-east Asian region, said co-founder and chief executive officer Krishnan Menon in a virtual press briefing on Wednesday (Jan 19).

"Through this, we will ensure that the growth-oriented merchants, brands and entrepreneurs have everything they need to dominate every possibility in front of them and grow really fast," he added.

The company's flagship product Tokko, now called LummoShop, is an e-commerce platform that enables MSMEs to set up online shops. It is modelled after platform giant Shopify.

Indonesia's MSMEs had to embrace technology and take operations online as a result of the pandemic, said Lummo's co-founder and chief operating officer Lorenzo Peracchione. Before the pandemic, only 20 per cent of Indonesian MSMEs had some form of online presence and now that number has increased to 44 per cent, he added.

Indonesia is home to over 60 million MSMEs, employing 97 per cent of its labour force. These businesses account for about 60 per cent of the country's GDP, according to Bank Rakyat Indonesia.

Founded in 2019, Lummo initially offered a simple digital bookkeeping mobile application for small business owners to monitor sales, profit and credits. The app also sends WhatsApp reminders to their customers when credit is due.

Within 2 years, the company secured US$50 million in an earlier Series B round led by London-based VC Hedosophia and a US$10 million Series A round led by Sequoia Capital India. It also graduated from Sequoia Surge's startup accelerator programme.

READ MORE:

• SIRCLO, the Shopify of Indonesia, raises US$36m in Series B round
• Digital solutions startup BukuKas raises US$50m in Series B funding

Amendment note: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that CapitalG co-led the funding round when in fact it was one of the participants. The article has been amended to reflect this change.