Ula, Indonesian Startup That Gets Funds From Jeff Bezos


 There is an Indonesian startup called Ula which reportedly received an injection of funds from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

According to Tech Crunch, Ula received Series B funding of USD 87 million (Rp 1.2 trillion) from Prosus Ventures, Tencent, and B Capital. Well, Bezos is reportedly involved in injecting funds through Bezos Expeditions. Meanwhile 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).


The COVID-19 pandemic seems to be pushing Ula forward as the economy is being pushed to go digital. Ula made progress from already having 20,000 stores in a year. Investors began to look.


"Many retail markets in Indonesia are not regulated. For example in the food and vegetable sector, many farmers sell to agents, then they sell to the market. From this market, goods go to small wholesalers and so on. There are many players in the supply chain," Mehra told Tech Crunch. .


Ula said he wanted to focus on Indonesia first, there was still a big opportunity. Retail spending is expected to reach USD 500 billion in 4 years, said Kabir Narang as Founding General Partner at B Capital Group. In addition to fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), Ula will also enter the clothing and electronics sectors.

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