UOB Venture Management leads US$30m round in social commerce startup Evermos

Claudia Chong

Published Wed, Sep 22, 2021 · 08:00 AM

EVERMOS, a social commerce platform based in Indonesia, has raised over US$30 million in a Series B round led by UOB Venture Management's Asia Impact Investment Fund II.

Other participants in the round included International Finance Corporation (a member of the World Bank Group), Telkom's MDI Ventures, Telkomsel Mitra Innovation and Future Shape. Existing investors Jungle Ventures and Shunwei Capital also participated in this round.

The fresh funds will be used to expand the leadership and growth teams, enter new geographies and deepen technology development.

Evermos enables resellers to sell locally sourced products to their community via WhatsApp or social media platforms. Evermos manages the inventory, logistics and customer support on its tech-enabled platform.

The startup said it has more than 100,000 active resellers across over 500 tier two and three cities and regencies on its platform. Products from over 500 brands are available, of which more than 95 per cent are sourced from local small and medium enterprises, said Evermos.

"Currently we are running a pilot program 'Desa Evermos' with almost 100 villages in Indonesia to partner with the local businesses located in the village and convert the underproductive local residents into community assets by becoming our resellers," said Arip Tirta, president and co-founder of Evermos.

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Clarissa Loh, senior director at UOB Venture Management, believes the population of more than 200 million living outside tier one cities represents a huge opportunity for Evermos. "As e-commerce penetration in these areas tends to be low partly due to low Internet connectivity, logistics challenges and distrust or unfamiliarity of online shopping, Evermos' innovative social commerce model can bridge the gap by enabling social sellers to market products to these consumers," she said.