Indonesia’s IDN Media secure Series B funding

• The round was led by East Ventures and Central Exchange
• Funds will be used to accelerate audience growth and on product improvement

IDN MEDIA, an Indonesian digital media company for millennials and Gen Z, has secured Series B funding from a group of investment firms.

The undisclosed amount was raised in a round led by East Ventures, along with Central Exchange, a venture capital firm based in Hong Kong.

The funding will allow IDN Media to speed up the growth of its audience and improve all its products and technology to achieve its goal of becoming the voice of millennials and Gen Z.

“The IDN Media we see and experience today has only scratched the surface of our vision. We are very excited with the Series B investment and working with the new partner, as it allows us to move closer to our goal: to become the voice of millennials and Gen Z.

“In addition, with the raise in capital, we will focus on our mission to build a better 360 multi-platform media company for millennials and Gen Z,” said IDN Media founder and chief executive officer Winston Utomo in a statement.

Based on the comScore composition index of unique visitors from the 18 to 24 and 18 to 34-year-old categories in 2017, IDN Media has risen to become the leading digital media for millennials and Gen Z in Indonesia.

“IDN Media’s strategy to focus solely on Millennials and Gen Z has proven to be working very well. Not only have they reached a massive and loyal audience, but they have also built strong business fundamentals with significant growth in revenue, resulting in profitable quarters.

“We are pleased to lead this investment and to work together with the new partner,” said East Ventures co-founder and managing partner Willson Cuaca.

Niche focus

There are many definitions for millennials and Gen Z. But for Winston and his team, millennials are those born from 1980-1996. Gen Z are born after 1996.

Winston also explains that millennials and Gen Z share content that they find on the internet for entertainment, usefulness, involvement, personal branding, and also because the identity of the content could represent them.

IDN Media has generated 50 million monthly website visits across two portals, one billion monthly content views across all platforms, and 62 million monthly video views.

Winston did not disclose the metrics used to measure the company’s valuation, but he says that page views and viewership are important, although the uniqueness and brand equity of the media itself are equally important.

“Our goal is to grow our audience, while also making sure that we are consistent with our vision, which is to become the voice of Millennials and Gen Z.”

Improving product offerings

Moving forward, IDN Media will continue to bolster the editorial team by launching local editions and newsrooms in 10 cities in Indonesia, establishing several new vertical media, growing its loyal community base, and increasing investment in original content.

It will also focus on improving its product offerings and cutting-edge technology, both for readers and the brand advertising partners.

“For the past year, we have been growing our product lines, strengthening our content creation, building deep relationship with brands and advertisers, and ramping up our hiring of the best talent in the industry to prepare the company for rapid growth.

“We are very excited and grateful because the rapid growth in audience is followed by strong partnerships with brands, resulting in significant growth in revenue and profitability,” says IDN Media founder and chief operating officer William Utomo.

When asked about competition with Facebook and Google, Winston says that they complement what IDN Media does.

“In fact, we work closely with them to deliver high-quality content. We are a media company which creates content. We then distribute our content to Facebook and Google,” he explains.

With 140 team members, IDN Media now operates IDN Times (News and Entertainment Portal), Popbela.com (Female-focused Portal), Yummy (Food-focused Media), NOW (News Video Portal), IDN TV (Video Production House), IDN Creative (Digital Agency), IDN Event (Event Agency), and IDN Creator Network (Creator Marketing Agency).

It will also launch a new portal focusing on Millennial Mama called Popmama.com by the end of the year.

“In such a short period, IDN Media has built an exceptional media company that combines data-driven content and sophisticated technology. In addition to the solid team, good culture, and strong operations, we believe in both Winston and William Utomo’s vision to build IDN Media to become the biggest multi-platform media company for millennials and Gen Z,” said Central Exchange chairman Billy So.

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