Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, reportedly injected funds into an Indonesian startup. This is proof that local startups are increasingly attractive in the eyes of the world.
Tech Crunch as seen on Monday (4/9/2021) reported that e-commerce startup Ula received Series B funding of USD 87 million. This funding is from Prosus Ventures, Tencent and B Capital. Jeff Bezos also injected funds in this round.
Tech Crunch reported that Jeff Bezos agreed to participate in disbursing money through Bezos Expeditions. B Capital, Tencent and Prosus Ventures are positioned as co-leads.
"Ula's newest investors come with global expertise and share the company's long-term thinking. We are pleased that they believe in Ula's mission and hope to learn from their experience reimagining retail in other emerging markets," said Ula Co-founder and CEO, Nipun Mehra in a statement. the official statement.
E-commerce startup Ula is only 1.5 years old and based in Jakarta. Previously, they had received funding from B Capital Group, Sequoia Capital India, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Quona Capital.
Jeff Bezos is reportedly attracted to Ula, which is a B to B e-commerce platform, because Amazon has not yet entered Southeast Asia and only has a limited presence in this region.
Startup Ula was founded by Nipun Mehra (a former Flipkart executive in India and a former partner at Sequoia Capital India), Alan Wong (formerly at Amazon), Derry Sakti (who oversaw the operations of consumer goods giant P&G in Indonesia), and Riky Southeast (formerly at Lazada and aCommerce). Ula helps small retailers with supply chain, inventory and working capital solutions.