Grupin Social Commerce Startup Receives 42 Billion Rupiah Funding Led by Surge

The social commerce platform "Grupin" announced seed funding of $3 million or equivalent to 42 billion Rupiah. This round was led by Surge from Sequoia Capital India. Also participated in this round, Skystar Capital and East Ventures. Grupin is part of the sixth cohort of the Surge accelerator program.

Grupin was founded by Kevin Sandjaja and Ricky Christie in January 2021. Kevin himself was previously known as Pegipegi's CEO.

As other existing social commerce applications, Grupin offers a community-based shopping experience to consumers in collective concept, aiming to get better price offers. They provide daily products, such as basic necessities, kitchen utensils, baby products, and electronics. Currently, this service is only available for the Greater Jakarta and Bandung areas.

“With the rise of e-commerce, especially since the pandemic, consumer wants a different shopping experience that still provides certain offline experience, not only competitive prices, but also social interaction. At Grupin, we offer this shopping experience, which is very attractive to customers in Indonesia, because it is related to the 'gotong royong' value, as we working together to achieve a common goal," Grupin's Co-Founder, Kevin Sandjaja said.

He continued, "Not only do we provide customers with greater value, but also enable producers, MSMEs, as well as farmers to reach new consumers. Through this funding, we plan to strengthen our team and expand our network of cooperation with producers, both local and global."

How Groupin works

In order to use the service, user can download the app and signed up to select the items. Then, users will be asked to invite friends to join the group by sharing a special link. Once the group meets the certain number, the product can be purchased and will be sent to each member's address.

Each offer has different conditions for group members. Grupin also provides offering features based on location, browsing behavior, purchasing preferences and purchasing power.

"In addition, customers can share the best deals and products with their friends and family within the app, providing a unique shopping that has a different social experience compared to some other e-commerce platforms," he said

Collective buying business model

Grupin is not the first player using the e-commerce business model with the collective buying concept. Previously, other startups had similar features, including Kitabeli. KitaBeli has recently secured a series A funding worth more than $10 million supported by Go-Ventures, East Ventures, and a number of other investors.

This business model is considered to be suitable for the Indonesian market, especially targeting the tier-2 and 3 areas. This collective shopping model can also attract consumers who are yet to be familiar with online shopping. In addition, the strong community network among neighbors in the regions is considered suitable for collective purchases like this – let alone being able to get a more affordable price.

This is one of several business models that can be applied to social commerce. Another model is a partnership, allowing micro entrepreneurs [individuals] to have a selling business without having to gain large capital for stock. Some startups in this segment are Evermos and RateS.

–Original article is in Indonesian, translated by Kristin Siagian