Indonesia’s quick delivery commerce startup Astro raises US$27 million in a Series A funding round

Indonesia-based quick delivery commerce startup Astro has raised US$27 million in a Series A funding round led by Sequoia Capital India and Accel. The round was also joined by existing investors including Global Founders, AC Ventures, Goodwater Capital, Lightspeed. Angel investors including founders and senior executives of Ajaib, Traveloka, OYO, Swiggy, Udaan, and Meesho also participated.

Astro plans to use the latest funding to expand its reach across Indonesia and hire more talent this year.

About Astro

Headquartered in Jakarta, Astro was founded in September 2021 by Vincent Tjendra to offer a quick commerce platform that provides groceries and essentials in 15 minutes.

The startup has managed to raise a total of US$31.5 million to date since its inception last year beginning with US$4.5 million in seed funding from AC Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Global Founders Capital, and Goodwater Capital in November last year.

Astro co-founder and CEO Vincent Tjendra said in a statement, “Our mission at Astro is to make people’s lives simpler and easier. Our Astronauts deliver groceries and essentials to you within 15 minutes so you can spend your time, energy and money on other meaningful things in life.”

The e-grocery sector in Southeast Asia was among the segments that benefited the most due to the influx of new digital consumers during the pandemic, according to a report by Google, Temasek, Bain & Company.

According to tech venture consultancy Momentum Work’s founder and CEO Jianggan Li, during the second half of 2021, the quick commerce segment across the globe has gained a lot of attention from investors which led to many startups raising a significant amount of money.

According to a report from the startup, companies such as Gojek, Foodpanda, Grab, Deliveroo, LINE MAN Wongai have made an aggressive push into the quick commerce and grocery segments, leveraging their existing delivery infrastructure and customer base to tackle a much bigger addressable market.