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Shipper, an Indonesia-based logistics platform, has secured an undisclosed amount of series A funding in a round led by consumer internet group and tech investor Prosus Ventures (formerly Naspers Ventures) to further scale in the archipelago.
Existing investors Lightspeed Venture Partners, Floodgate, Y Combinator, Insignia Ventures Partners, and AC Ventures also participated in the round.
Launched in 2016, Shipper offers a one-stop logistics solution that offers a multi-courier shipping platform and distributed warehousing and fulfilment network. It aims to help solve three major problems in the industry: a confusing plethora of different warehousing and shipping options, a lack of pricing transparency, and below-average tracking systems.
Shipper will use the new funds to ramp up hiring to build out its data and tech capabilities, Budi Handoko, chief operating officer and co-founder at Shipper, said. The investment will also help the startup to continue expanding its solutions.
What is the startup’s funding history? Shipper closed its seed round in 2019, raising US$5 million from Y Combinator, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Floodgate, Insignia Ventures Partners, and Convergence Ventures.
How much traction has it gotten? Over the past year, Shipper saw about 10x to 15x in growth, Handoko told Tech in Asia. He also noted that logistics services in the country is in high demand and that technology is needed to make the fragmented network more structured.
The startup currently works with more than 100 express couriers and has over 30 fulfillment centers, with plans to expand its reach to new regions in its home market.
What challenges has it faced recently? Customers will continue to come and go as the Covid-19 pandemic hits businesses.
To address this, the startup will focus on further developing its technology to empower its logistics partners and meet customer demand.
What are its future plans?
During the announcement of its seed round last year, Shipper revealed plans to expand into Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines soon. But with a pandemic-hit economy, the startup said it’s choosing to focus on Indonesia for now.
“As of today, all of our team is very focused on creating value for Indonesia and we’re not at the moment looking at external markets. But it is still a mission and vision of ours to create impact broadly across the region,” Handoko said.
Although the logistics market in Indonesia is projected to hit US$240 billion by 2021, the processes are still very inefficient. In tier-two and tier-three cities, shipping costs are still expensive – adding up to 40% more on top of a customer’s total purchase amount – becoming a major barrier to mass e-commerce adoption.
Other local logistics players addressing this market include Coca-Cola-backed Kargo and East Ventures-backed Waresix, among many others.
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