Dagangan Raises $11.5 Mn Series A Led By Monk's Hill Ventures The funding will be used to grow Dagangan's house brand of private-label local products, product development, talent acquisition, and grow partnerships with community leaders, key opinion leaders, local entrepreneurs, and village chiefs
By Prabhjeet Bhatla •
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Dagangan—the social e-commerce platform for underserved rural communities in Indonesia—recently announced to have raised $11.5 million in Series A funding led by Monk's Hill Ventures. Other investors include MMS Group, K3 Ventures, Spiral Ventures, and PnP.
Dagangansupplies fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) to underserved rural communities through its Android app and partnerships with community leaders.
The funding will be used to grow Dagangan'shouse brand of white-label local products such as frozen foods, groceries and homeware appliances, product development such as expanding digital product features including paylater, logistics pick-up and delivery, talent acquisition, and growing partnerships with community leaders, key opinion leaders, local entrepreneurs, and village chiefs. In addition, Daganganalso plans to continue to expand its footprint in tier-III cities and tier-IV villages including Java, Sumatra, and Kalimantan.
"Our vision is that each and every one of the 100 million individuals in the underserved rural communities in Indonesia will have easy access to basic and high-quality local daily necessities and goods at affordable prices. A typical consumer can travel on average 20 kilometers for groceries. For small producers and sellers, the barrier to grow their businesses and have a wider distribution of their products and goods will no longer be a challenge," said Ryan Manafe, co-founder and chief executive officer,Dagangan.
The rural communities in Indonesia which make up 80 per cent of the population of Indonesia are currently underserved where the average consumer can pay up to 35 per cent for everyday necessities and groceries compared to tier-I and tier-II cities in Indonesia. The challenge is further exacerbated by inefficient supply chains and poor logistics networks. By building and scaling a tech-enabled community-based hub, Daganganaims to boost rural economic growth, make the supply chain the most efficient and serve the underserved in these markets.
"Supplying basic daily necessities to rural communities in Indonesia continues to be one of the most complex problems to solve with existing inefficient supply chains and logistics networks. Dagangan'shub-and-spoke model has shown impressive traction and an early proven track record that is impacting communities. We believe that Ryan, Wilson, and the Daganganteam are well-positioned to be a formidable contender in this market with their strong operational backgrounds and local Indonesia expertise," shared Peng T. Ong, co-founder and managing partner, Monk's Hill Ventures.
To date, Daganganhas a footprint in eight tier-III cities and 5,000 tier-IV villages in over 50 regencies. Daganganhas also distributed over 20 local products from smaller farmers and distributors to a wider market. Dagangantoday has more than 20,000 active users that manage over 3,000 SKU.
