Sequoia backs Indonesia MSME app
Sequoia Capital India has joined a $9 million pre-Series A round for Indonesia’s BukuKas, a bookkeeping app for micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs).
Sequoia India, which has covered Southeast Asia since 2014, is participating via its launched Surge accelerator program. The firm launched its debut seed fund last year, which is said to have raised around $200 million. In July, Sequoia secured about $1.3 billion for its India and Southeast Asia strategies.
Speedinvest, Saison Capital, S7V, January Capital, and Cambium Grove Capital also participated, bringing Bukukas’ total funding raised to date to $12 million. In addition, the company is backed by several prominent angel investors including entrepreneurs associated with Pinelabs, Kopi Kenangan, and KoinWorks, as well as Patrick Walujo, a co-founder of Northstar Group.
BukuKas was founded last year by former employees of Lazada Indonesia. The company aims to be a one-stop-shop for digital MSME services in industries such as electronics, fashion, retail, and food and beverage. It claims to have attracted 800,000 small merchants and retailers to its platform in its first eight months of operation, serving around 700 cities and districts in Indonesia.
The idea is to help merchants gain better visibility on what drives their profits and cash flow, enabling them to improve their business processes. The app also sends WhatsApp reminders to customers when credit is due. This process is said to allow small business owners to achieve up to 20% cost reduction and save 2-4 hours per day by avoiding manual calculations and reconciliation.
”At SpeedInvest, we focus a lot on innovative fintech start-ups that solve the problem of financial inclusion, at scale, across the globe,” said Christopher Zemina, a principal at Speedinvest. “We are super excited by BukuKas’ vision, early traction and execution by a very strong and driven team.”
Speedinvest was an early investor in N26, one of Europe’s most prominent financial technology unicorns.
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