BukuKas, Indonesia’s digital transformation startup, bags $50m funding

BukuKas, a digital transformation startup based in Indonesia, announced raising $50 million in a Series B funding round backed by prominent angel investors Gokul Rajaram and Taavet Hinrikus.

The funding round comes just four months after BukuKas, which was launched in December 2019, raised $10 million in a Series A round anchored by prominent investor Sequoia Capital India.

BukuKas seeks to empower small business owners in Indonesia to run their businesses in a much simpler and smarter way, freeing up their time so that they can grow their business and give back to their community.

As of April 2021, the startup said it has onboarded 6.3 million small traders and shop owners across its platforms, which have a combined 3 million monthly active users.

The startup, founded by serial entrepreneurs Krishnan Menon and Lorenzo Peracchione, aims to onboard 20 million MSMEs by the end of 2022.

The fresh funds will be deployed to strengthen BukuKas’ leadership team, engineering, and product capabilities in both its Jakarta and Bangalore offices, as well as expand the range of services offered to merchants.

“We are grateful for the trust from our investors – both new and existing – who believe in our team and our vision to digitize Indonesian MSMEs,” said Krishnan Menon, CEO and co-founder of BukuKas.

The funding round followed the April launch of BukuKasPay, which enables smalls business owners to pay their suppliers on time and to collect money digitally from their customers through various digital payment methods such as Bank Virtual Accounts, QRIS, and popular electronic wallets such as OVO, Dana, GoPay, LinkAja, and Shopeepay.

Last year, BukuKas acquired a digital ledger app – Catatan Keuangan Harian – to expand market share. It then launched a commerce enablement platform Tokko to help merchants sell more effectively on social commerce channels.

According to co-founder and COO Lorenzo Peracchione, Indonesia is home to more than 60 million MSMEs who account for over 60% of the country’s GDP.

Small merchants, he added, are increasingly looking for simple digital solutions to their daily problems, from being on top of their cash flows to generating and handling more WhatsApp orders.

“BukuKas wants to become the preferred merchant ecosystem partner to help small business owners thrive and grow in our digital age,” he said.