Japan-Based VC Venture Republic Invests in Shopping Search Engine Startup, Telunjuk

Price comparison site Telunjuk today announced that they have closed a round of funding from Japanese VC, Venture Republic. The capital obtained from this round of funding will be used to increase the service to become the best shopping reference for Indonesian consumer. 

The site is run by two co-founders Narendrata and Redya Febrianto who both met during college, and was working for a telco company when they decided to built their own startup. Back then they received funding and mentorship from the now-deceased Project Eden in Jakarta late 2011. The site was built with help from a few freelancers, and started out as a comparison site for laptops, phones and plane tickets.

Drata, Telunjuk CMO, said that "The integration between human touch and technology will become our strength in helping consumer to find the best products from the best online shops". With this investment deal, a representative from Venture Republic will join Telunjuk's board seat together with the founders and Project Eden, while the founders still obtains majority of ownership of the company.

Kei Shibata, Venture Republic CEO, said in a statement "This is our first investment in Indonesia. We've known Redya and Drata as amazing founders and complete each other. With minimal cost, both founders were able to achieve a lot. With our experience in the shopping search engine industry, we're very excited to support them towards success". In Japan, Venture Republic has invested in the local vertical search engines such as Coneco.net, Travel.jp, and Hotel.jp.