Bukalapak raises funding from Standard Chartered for expansion

[SINGAPORE] Indonesia's Bukalapak.com has landed funding from Standard Chartered as it makes progress toward raising US$200 million to finance its expansion in the country, according to people familiar with the matter.

Naver and Mirae Asset-Naver Asia Growth Fund, both existing investors, are also close to signing an agreement for additional funding, according to one of the people, who asked not to be named because the matter is private.

Bukalapak has pulled in US$100 million from Microsoft, GIC and Elang Mahkota Teknologi as part of the ongoing round, Bloomberg News reported in November.

Representatives of Standard Chartered, Bukalapak, Naver and Mirae Asset-Naver Asia Growth Fund declined to comment.

Standard Chartered and Bukalapak said on Thursday they formed a strategic partnership to collaborate on digital banking. The online marketplace, which competes with rivals such as Shopee, Tokopedia and Lazada, has about 100 million users and 13.5 million sellers in Indonesia. It is valued at US$3.5 billion, according to CB Insights.

The coronavirus pandemic has boosted demand for e-commerce in the world's fourth most-populous country, where the median age is 30 years. Lockdowns prompted many consumers to try mobile shopping for the first time, and Bukalapak said its transaction volumes more than doubled in 2020 from a year earlier.

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There has been a flurry of deals among South-east Asia's biggest internet companies in recent weeks.

Singapore's Sea, the region's most valuable company, acquired Indonesia's Bank Kesejahteraan Ekonomi, Bloomberg News reported this week. Gojek, Indonesia's most valuable startup, has amassed a 22.16 per cent stake in Bank Jago, while Grab Financial Group, the financial services unit of Grab Holdings, raised US$300 million, led by Hanwha Asset Management Co.

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