The Indonesian coffee startup Kopi Kenangan has bagged USD 109 million in a Series B funding round led by “unicorn maker” Sequoia Capital India, the company announced on Tuesday. Other investors participating in this round are B Capital, Horizons Ventures, Verlinvest, Kunlun, Sofina, and Alpha JWC. Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin, who invested in previous rounds, will be joining the board of directors.
Kopi Kenangan plans to use the funding to strengthen its operations in Indonesia, launch new products, enhance its tech capabilities, as well as to support and protect employees amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The firm is looking to expand across other markets in Southeast Asia by opening stores in Thailand, the Philippines, and Malaysia, after the COVID-19 pandemic ends. Kopi Kenangan expects to reach 500 stores in Indonesia by the end of 2020.
According to the firm’s co-founder and CEO Edward Tirtanata, this new investment is showing that Kopi Kenangan can endure the unprecedented crisis of COVID-19 and protect its employees. “We were able to inspire investors’ confidence due to the “Grab & Go” nature of our business. Our dine-in has decreased significantly, but we are seeing around 50% increase in some of the more delivery friendly locations. Furthermore, our robust unit economics show that we are still profitable on the store level even during the pandemic,” Tirtanata told KrASIA.
The fresh investment arrives less than a year after the firm raised USD 20 million from Sequoia India in June 2019. In December, Kopi Kenangan announced an expansion of the Series A round, with additional investments from Jay-Z’s VC firm Arrive, Serena Ventures, world-renowned basketball player Caris LeVert, Sweetgreen CEO Jonathan Neman, and Eduardo Saverin, among others.
Founded in 2017 by Edward Tirtanata and James Prananto, Kopi Kenangan claims to offer a “new retail” concept that combines offline operations and online presence. The startup launched its own app last year to let customers pre-order their drinks and pick them up at their preferred location, which appeals to the country’s young and tech-savvy consumers.
The firm’s trademark drink is called “Es Kopi Kenangan Mantan” which is made from coffee, fresh milk, and organic palm sugar. Kopi Kenangan has since been evolving the business from being coffee-centric to include more variety of Southeast Asian favorites such as Boba drinks. The company also plans to work with local merchants to offer more products going forward.
Kopi Kenangan currently operates 324 stores across the country. It has more than one million customers on its mobile app and employs over 3,000 people.
“F&B is one of the largest consumer opportunities in Southeast Asia and Kopi Kenangan has built a very authentic and compelling identity among millions of Indonesians,” said Rohit Agarwal, Vice President, Sequoia Capital (India) in a statement. “We are looking forward to bringing the same delightful experience and tasty products in more categories and formats as the business expands into newer markets like Thailand, Philippines, and Malaysia post COVID-19.”
