BRI Ventures (BVI) through the Sembrani Nusantara Venture Fund invests for the first time in non-fintech startups. It’s also not a technology service developer startup, but a new economy. It is the local beverage brand developer Haus! in the Series A funding round. The nominal has reached 30 billion Rupiah, as well as being Sembrani’s debut investment to startups.
It is said that BVI is completing several other investments through the new managed fund, which will be announced soon. As previously stated, Sembrani Nusantara‘s goal is to find and foster local startups in order to foster a sustainable SME ecosystem.
Since it was founded in 2018 by Gufron Syarif, currently Thirsty! already has 113 branch outlets in the Jabodetabek and Bandung areas. The market segmentation is Gen-Z and millennial, offering a variety of drinks and bread at relatively affordable prices, starting from IDR 5,000.
“With the Series A funding, we support SMEs to move up their game for greater scalability and carry out their expansion outside Jabodetabek. The B2C segment for this category is still very wide and we hope to open up collaboration spaces with an integrated ecosystem,” BVI’s CEO Nicko Widjaja said.
Meanwhile, Haus! CEO, Gufron Syarif said that his current focus is on bringing the business into a wider segment of society, while still promoting affordable products with good quality.
“We have a different strategy from the high-end brands on the market today. We believe that selling beverage and food products at affordable prices can attract more consumers in Indonesia. From the customer experience aspect, we design it in such a way that our outlet can provide convenience for all groups of society,” Gufron added.
The fresh beverage business, which targets a similar segment, is on the rise. Some local venture capitalists (who are used to investing in digital startups) are also starting to get there. Also Alpha JWC Ventures with Goola, Hangry, and Kopi Kenangan; then there is also East Ventures which builds and invests in Fore Coffee.
Covid-19 has definitely had an impact on the F&B industry, but at the same time tests the business mentality of its founders. Some who choose to continue to accelerate their business, carry out the transformation to take advantage of the existing range of services. For example, what Haus! did, when there were social restrictions in the city, they optimized the use of ride-hailing services such as GoFood or GrabFood.
It has not been announced whether after this funding Haus! will also focus on developing digital lines to improve various aspects of the business – just like what several other startups have done. It’s just certain, if the existing players tend to play in the upper-middle segment, Haus! is stil exploring the broader mid-market segment.
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Original article is in Indonesian, translated by Kristin Siagian
