Business directory platform Indotrading has just nabbed Series A funding worth $1,5 million (almost Rp 20 billion) from a fleet of investors led by OPT SEA, Japan-based OPT Group’s investment arm that focuses on Southeast Asia. IndoTrading is going to allocate the money to improve its mobile and big data technology.
This is the second investment Indotrading has sealed in past two years. The company previously secured a seed funding from Rebright Partners around 1,5 years ago. In the latest round of funding, Golden Gate Ventures, GMO Venture Partners, Convergence Accel, and Aucfan got aboard. Rebright Partners, the company’s existing investor, also took part completing the list.
Handy Chang, Indotrading’s CEO, told DailySocial that his team will focus on technology development after securing the money. He said, “We are going to focus in technology (to) improve in mobile access (and) big data, since we’re going to handle tons of them.”
In 2015, Chang leaked that Indotrading’s target would be to double its traffic and number of registered companies.
As a directory platform, the team have so far gathered 12.000 registered companies based in Indonesia, and most of them are SMEs. Indotrading indeed eyes on SMEs that lack of proper website, since they may utilize the data registered at Indotrading while introducing their services online.
Indotrading claimed that there are no less than 22 million (registered) SMEs and huge number of untapped opportunities in Indonesia.
Regarding the funding from OPT, Chang commented, “We are really glad to receive the funding from OPT and other investors in this round so that we could build a mutual partnership, to let us learn. We have now convinced investors that come from three different countries: Japan, Indonesia, and Singapore. Each and every of them has its own business asset and skills to survive in each own region. I believe that this will help (Indotrading) to build a more solid business.”
OPT SEA’s CEO Ryukichi Iwakiri added, “We are really to join indotrading’s expansion journey through our knowledge and skills in digital advertising that we employ to satisfy our various clients in Asia.”
