Indonesia’s Beauty Ecommerce Site Sociolla Bags $40m in Series D

Social Bella, the operator of Indonesian beauty ecommerce platform Sociolla, has raised US$40 million in its a Series D funding round co-anchored by venture capital fund EV Growth and Singapore’s Temasek Holdings.

The funding round, which brings the startup’s total money raised to date to US$52 million, was also backed by Singapore’s Jungle Ventures, US-based Pavilion Capital, and EDBI, the investment arm of Singapore’s Economic Development Board.

Founded in 2015 as an ecommerce portal focused on beauty, Sociolla has grown beyond its core business and expanded into “beauty online experience” through its flagship publication Beauty Journal.

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Aside from Sociolla, Social Bella also operates a media business through Soco and recently opened two O2O concept stores in Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta.

Soco allows users to share their experiences and reviews with different beauty products. Users can write articles, upload videos, and post product reviews, according to Social Bella.

The company said Socialla’s website, the Soco platform, and Beaty Journal has recorded over 20.2 million visitors since 2018. Social Bella targets to attract 100 million unique visitors by 2021.

The latest funding round comes more than a year after Social Bella, which competes with Orami in Indonesia, raised US$12 million in its Series C funding. The said round was led by East Ventures’ EV Growth Fund, Yahoo Japan’s YJ Capital, and Sinar Mas Digital Ventures.

Social Bella said it will use the fresh funding to further develop its community platform and hire more people to further expand its technology and systems.

Indonesia’s beauty industry is forecast to hit US$6 billion this year, according to a Euromonitor report. By 2022, the industry is expected to reach US$8.4 billion.

Sociolla was founded by Chrisanti Indiana, Christopher Madiam, and John Rasjid. It first raised funding in November 2015.

The fresh investment, according to co-founder and CEO Rasjid, will enable Social Bella to accelerate its business further and add more comprehensive beauty service, in addition to expanding into a wider segment.[/ihc-hide-content]