The Indonesian e-commerce unicorn Bukalapak said today that it has raised new investment from South Korea’s Shinhan GIB, an integrated investment banking unit of Shinhan Financial Group.
Other investors also joined the new funding, including Indonesian tech conglomerate Emtek, according to an official statement.
Emtek is also the parent company of Bukalapak, and has injected cash into Bukalapak in previous rounds. Emtek also set up a joint venture with Ant Financial in 2017 to launch a mobile wallet called Dana that has been integrated into Bukalapak’s online platform as one of the payment options.
No financial details were disclosed, but Bukalapak said that the new investment brings the company’s valuation to surpass USD 2,5 billion.
Bukalapak announced its “unicorn” status in January 2018, making it the fourth unicorn company in the country. In its statement, Bukalapak said will utilize this fresh investment to execute its long-term plans and business strategy. This is Bukalapak’s second funding this year. In January, it announced a USD 50 million investment, led by the Mirae Asset-Naver Asia Growth Fund.
The company made headlines last month after it reportedly let go around 10% of its employees which it said was a ‘necessary move’ to make the company become sustainable. Shortly afterwards, Bukalapak claimed that it has achieved a three-fold increase in gross profits in the first half of 2019.
The platform currently has 70 million active users and over four million sellers. Through its Mitra Bukalapak program, it empowers more than two million kiosk partners and individual agents throughout Indonesia.
