Super, the Indonesian social commerce startup focused on small towns and rural areas, announced today that 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, co-founder and CEO of Super says Indonesia Tier 2, Tier 3 and rural gross domestic product is three to five times lower than in Jakarta, yet the cost of consumer goods there is 20% higher to 200% thanks to supply chain problems. 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 optimizing the supply chain and giving consumer goods brands an easier way to reach consumers in rural areas, Super can also reduce the costs of goods. The startup plans to use its funding to expand to Kalimantan, Bali, West Nusa Tenggara, East Nusa Tenggara, Maluka, and Papua in the coming years. Super is currently working 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 be individuals or local shops called warungs. Super says it currently has thousands of community agents, adding and distributing millions of US dollars in goods to communities each month. It now operates in 30 cities in East Java and South Sulawesi, focusing primarily on areas that have a GDP per capita of $5,000 USD or less. Some of the funding will also be used to apply machine learning to the SKUs in Super’s warehouse, to help the startup understand what is selling best and where, so it can better determine the type of inventory it has. It is launching two private label brands, including in cosmetics, and will create an app feature for agents that will allow them to track end-consumer transactions.
