Super, the Indonesian social commerce startup focused on small towns and rural areas, announced today it has raised an oversubscribed $70 million Series C. The round was led by NEA with participation from Insignia Ventures Partners, SoftBank Ventures Asia, DST Global Partners, Amasia, B Capital, TNB Aura, Bain Capital chairman Stephen Pagliuca, Goldhouse, and Xendit CEO Moses Lo.
This brings Super’s total raised so far to $106 million since it was founded in 2018. TechCrunch last covered the startup at the time of its $28 million Series B in April 2021.
Steven Wongsoredjo, the co-founder and CEO of Super, says that Indonesia’s Tier 2, Tier 3 and rural area’s gross domestic product is three to five times lower than Jakarta, yet the cost of consumer goods there is higher by 20% to 200% thanks to supply chain issues. Not only that, but more than 30% of Indonesia’s GDP comes from East Java, Kalimantan and East Indonesia, making those places a valuable source of potential revenue for fast-moving consumer goods. By streamlining the supply chain and giving FMCG brands an easier way to reach consumers in rural areas, Super is also able to lower the costs of goods.
The startup plans to use its funding to expand into Kalimantan, Bali, West Nusa Tenggara, East Nusa Tenggara, Maluka and Papua over the next few years.
Super currently works with third-party logistics providers to create a hyperlocal logistics platform that it says can deliver consumer goods to thousands of agents within 24 hours of an order. The company’s agents, or resellers, can either be individuals or local shops called warungs.
Super says it currently has thousands of community agents, and aggregates and distributes millions of U.S. dollars worth of goods to communities each month. It now operates in 30 cities in East Java and South Sulawesi, primarily targeting areas that have a GDP per capital of $5,000 USD or lower.
Part of the funding will also be used to apply machine learning to the SKU’s in Super’s warehouse, to help the startup understand what sells best and where, so it can better determine the kind of inventory it holds. It is launching two private-label brands, including in cosmetics, and will create an app feature for agents that will let them track end-consumer transactions.