Warung Pintar nets US$4mil in new funding round

By Digital News Asia August 7, 2018

Raised US$4 million in a seed funding round in February 2018
Has 319 kiosks across Jabodetabek, operated by over 500 micro-entrepreneurs

Warung Pintar nets US$4mil in new funding round

INDONESIA-based retail technology company Warung Pintar announced on Aug 7 that it has secured another US$4 million (RM16.31 million) in a funding round from Vertex Ventures, Pavilion Capital, and LINE Ventures.

The investment will accelerate Warung Pintar’s mission to help improve the quality of warung (traditional kiosks) in Jakarta and encourage technology inclusion for micro-enterprises.

Since its initial seed funding round of US$4 million six months ago in February 2018, Warung Pintar’s kiosk base has grown by 3477% with an average monthly growth of 187%.

Today, Warung Pintar has 319 kiosks across Jabodetabek that are operated by more than 500 micro-entrepreneurs.

Several programmes and collaborations have also been established to boost Warung Pintar’s growth and promote digital financing to kiosk owners, including the recent partnership with Go-Jek’s payment arm Go-Pay, which offers customers a cashless payment facility at all kiosks.

Currently there are more than 12,000 registered potential Warung Pintar Partners waiting to join Warung Pintar.

Improving lives with technology

Technology development continues apace to improve the welfare of Warung Pintar’s partners.

Warung Pintar chief technology officer Sofian Hadiwijaya, says that technology has been proven to increase the operational efficiency of kiosks, which then increases their sales and income.

According to data, the average kiosk owner’s monthly income has increased by 89.5% after joining Warung Pintar and can reach up to 4.17 million rupiah (US$287.72) - 15% higher than the Jabodetabek area’s minimum wage.

"We keep innovating and listening to what our customers and kiosk partners need so that the technology is accessible and easily used by all communities. We are trying to solve hyper-local problems that these warungs have on a daily basis with state-of-the-art technology and global knowledge of the product.

“Therefore, we're building a team of engineers with strong technical understanding and a big heart for Indonesian grassroots,” he explained.

Willson Cuaca, managing partner of East Ventures and chairman of Warung Pintar said, “Warung Pintar was literally born out of problems that lay before our own eyes but went unnoticed. We are confident and excited to bring financial inclusion to the unbanked population by giving them financial strength and additional income, not by lending them money as has been trending recently.”

Vertex Ventures managing partner Joo Hock Chua, said, “SMEs have always been a major contributor to the economy in Southeast Asia and they account for over 90% of all business establishments. Most SMEs still do business the traditional way. Vertex Ventures is happy to be part of Warung Pintar to help upgrade SMEs in Indonesia and enable them to participate in the digital economy to earn more income and improve their living standard.”