Maudy Ayunda Chips In to Segari's Series A Funding

Segari online grocery startup announced public figure Maudy Ayunda as one of the angel investors participating in its series A round. The fundraising was previously announced in early September 2021 of $16 million led by Go-Ventures.

SIG, Alfamart, Gunung Sewu Group (one of the largest agricultural and food groups in Indonesia), and Intrinity Capital (affiliated with Gulaku) also participated in this round. In addition, the ranks of investors in its previous stage, including Beenext, AC Ventures, and Saison Capital.

Both Maudy Ayundy and Segari's Co-founder, Farand Anugerah know each other, it is due to their educational background that took place in the United States.

“When we were studying in America, we wanted to return to Indonesia and make a positive impact by using technology. When I told the Segari team's dream to develop e-grocery services, Maudy expressed a very positive response," Farand said in an official statement, Tuesday (19/10).

Maudy Ayunda added, “Before decided to invest, I was already a Segari customer and I immediately became a fan since I always get fresh products and directly come from farmers. Ordering products is also very easy and delivered directly to the house.”

She also said, Segari's impact in helping local farmers to earn a fair income from the products they sell encouraged her to invest more in Segari. "I think this is a business model that can be the future of the Indonesian e-grocery industry."

The company is committed to simplifying complex distribution chains by leveraging technology and empowering communities as more efficient sales and distribution partners. Thus, farmers can continue to sell their crops at a more fair price.

Segari has a network of farmer partners in Java and Sumatra and utilizes a decentralized warehouse system to maintain product quality in the A+ grade category. Also, cooperate with sales partners to deliver goods within 15 hours of ordering.

Within just one year of operation, Segari's business is thriving. The company managed to boost its performance and rose over 20 times for the number of customers and revenue. They offered various products, ranging from fruit, vegetables, meat, basic necessities, to ready-to-cook ingredients.

Instead only using e-commerce platform, the company has a social commerce service called Mitra Segari. This service is to target housewives and SMEs to open an online supermarket business from home and earn additional income. Farand explained that partners only need to have a smartphone and WhatsApp to be able to sell.

"In addition to these opportunities, Mitra Segari also received additional assistance in the form of marketing materials and guidance from the Segari team to continue developing their business."

Online grocery market size

The online grocery industry has fierce competition, however, there's still a space for growth because its penetration is still concentrated in big cities.

A report from Statista said, last year the online grocery market share in this country only reached 0.3%, it is predicted that it will increase by 20 basis points to 0.5% in 2022. The pandemic is said to be one of the main factors that triggered the increase in the popularity of online grocery services among consumers.

Based on the data, a further impact of the pandemic apart from changing consumer online buying behavior, is a change in consumer mindset in shopping. “Concerned about the economic impact of the pandemic, many Indonesian consumers are becoming more budget conscious. Also, it's visible that consumers are making basic necessities and health purchase as the priority during the pandemic," the report said.

However, e-grocery platforms in this country is still at its premature stage. In terms of coverage, almost all services are still focused on tier-1 cities. The biggest players like HappyFresh covers only the Greater Jakarta area, Surabaya, and several other big cities. Meanwhile, newcomers such as Segari still serve a limited area in Jadetabek.

–Original article is in Indonesian, translated by Kristin Siagian