Micro-retail tech startup Warung Pintar secures US$27.5M in Series B funding
Indonesia’s Warung Pintar, a micro-retail tech startup has announced today a Series B funding round totaling US$27.5 million.
Existing investors who participated include SMDV, Vertex Ventures, Pavilion Capital, LINE Ventures, Digital Garage, Agaeti, Triputra, Jerry Ng, and EV Growth. The new investor coming on board is OVO.
“Warung Pintar has significantly push mitra’s (term to call its partners) income up to 41 per cent. We will continue to strive in transforming micro-retail so they can have a more competitive advantage in the midst of the retail landscape and build a better economy for themselves,” said Co-Founder & CEO Warung Pintar, Agung Bezharie Hadinegoro.
Empowering underserved population and building equal opportunities have been the recurring theme of Warung Pintar’s main mission, one that’s received a nod from Managing Partner of Vertex, Chua Kee Lock, “I believe Warung Pintar is well-positioned to accelerate SME digital adoption in Indonesia,” he added.
OVO, the newest investor in the company said that joining the funding aligns with OVO’s mission of financial inclusion. “This venture underlines OVO’s conviction to be part of Indonesian’s SMEs growth in the digital economy era,” said CEO Jason Thompson.
Jerry Ng, one of the investors, added an important layer to the potential of Warung Pintar’s operation.
“From Warung shoppers, warung owners to investors, Warung Pintar understands its customers’ wants and needs, their socioeconomic, and cultural context. By engaging and bringing them into our growing digital ecosystem, the company is able to deliver both financial values and create meaningful impact for its customers,” said Ng.
Warung Pintar started off with only two kiosks on January 2018, and now has boasted more than 1,150 kiosks.
The strength of Warung Pintar -literally translated as “Smart Kiosks” – has been its community.
“One of the reasons all this growth are possible is because of the hard work from all Warung Pintar team -whom we called AnWar (Anak Warung) – translated to people who like hanging out in Warung. Currently, we have more than 200 AnWars (and growing), helping us in building a better economy for Indonesia. Together with Warung Pintar, they continuously leverage on the quality of technologies and services that Warung Pintar can offer,” said Hadinegoro.
Warung Pintar claimed to have 110 per cent of Social Return On Investment — which means every investment that Warung Pintar gives to each Mitra will improve their life quality in areas like the ability to afford children’s education and healthcare, socio-economic relationships among each other, and the skill of entrepreneurship by 110 per cent.
Last December, Warung Pintar officially extended the business opportunity to the people of Banyuwangi regency (East Java Province in Indonesia) and aims to grow to more than 5,000 kiosks at the end of 2019.