Jago, Indonesia’s mobile cafe startup, raises $2.2m in Pre-Series A funding

Indonesia-based mobile cafe startup Jago has raised $2.2 million in Pre-Series A round of financing led by Intudo Ventures and BEENEXT, with participation from CyberAgent Capital, and Arkblu Capital. The round was oversubscribed.

Launched in June 2020, Jago is a mobile café powering micro mobile retail—meeting customers whenever they want—wherever they want.

With a fleet of fully electric mobile cafés operating in key locations in Jakarta, Jago offers a hyperlocal approach to retail by serving neighborhoods within a 1-2km radius to quickly prepare and deliver fresh beverages within minutes.

The carts operate in areas that are either high density with demand from residential and business areas, or where coffeeshops are less abundant despite robust demand for fresh coffee products, providing easy and affordable access to coffee across all product categories.

Jago provides quality café beverages served by baristas equipped with all the tools and ingredients needed to prepare fresh beverages on the spot, including hot & cold, coffee & tea, and other specialty drinks.

Jago Coffee offers both in-person grab-and-go and mobile orders, offering pickup and delivery services for fresh café-grade coffees directly to consumers. Users can download the Jago app on iOS and Android to order freshly brewed beverages for both pickup and delivery, eliminating the need to go out to a café for refreshment.

Starting at IDR 8,000 (US$0.55) per cup, Jago’s fresh beverages offer a higher quality alternative to instant and ready-to-drink coffee, while ensuring convenience and cost-effectiveness.

Jago is led by a team of experienced Indonesian entrepreneurs in both coffee and tech, including co-founders Yoshua Tanu (CEO) and Christopher Oentojo (CTO).

In addition to Jago, Yoshua is also the co-founder of Common Grounds, a premium chain of café stores in Indonesia. Prior to founding Jago, Christopher was Vice President of Product at Gojek, where he led the launch of GoCar and the company’s internal mapping initiative.

“Our innovative business model, pairing mobile cafés with our Jago app, creates unrivaled access for coffee anytime, anywhere without having to sacrifice quality, price, or convenience. We are building new possibilities for last-mile retail that is sustainable and fulfilling for Indonesian consumers to meet their daily coffee and refreshment needs,” said Yoshua Tanu, co-founder and CEO of Jago.

Jago’s fundraise will be directed towards expanding to over 200 mobile cafés, covering 20 hyperlocal areas focused in Jakarta.

The company will also strengthen its core team in operations and most importantly in technology. Jago is not a tech-enabled retail business, but rather a technology company deploying a network of mobile carts to enable anyone, anywhere to have access to quality affordable coffee.