Crewdible gets US$1.5M pre-Series A funding round to help small businesses find warehouses
Indonesian micro-warehouse platform Crewdible announced a US$1.5 million pre-Series A funding round led by Global Founders Capital (GFC).
It followed a seed funding round that the company has secured in September 2018 from angel investors.
Since the closing of this round, Crewdible said that it has grown more than 40 times in just a year, leading to the latest investment by GFC.
In a press statement, Crewdible Founder and CEO Dhana Galindra said that the company will use the funding to build a stronger presence in big cities across Indonesia, marketing efforts, and most importantly to improve the platform to support massive traffic and other needs.
“We already have a strong team. With very little money we raised in the seed round, we managed to get so much done. Now with a big VC like GFC backing us up, we are extremely excited to turbocharge the business,” he said.
Crewdible helps small, individual online sellers on social media and e-commerce platforms by turning empty facilities (houses, offices, and warehouses) into a warehouse for their inventories.
The company’s history started in 2015, when founder Galindra ran a sporting brand called Lean. As his business grows, Galindra began partnering with staffs from logistics companies.
For an IDR5,000 (US$0.35) commission, the staffs would store Lean’s inventories in their houses, enabling the business to grow without renting a specialised warehouse or hiring dedicated staff.
Following demand from other online businesses, who are attracted to Lean’s warehousing system, Galindra built the Crewdible platform as a mobile app.
Desiree, VP Marketing of Crewdible, explained, “We realised this model is sustainable when existing warehouse partners are requesting to open subsequent warehouses, all we have to make sure is to drive enough traffic.”