Prosus Ventures, Tencent, B Capital lead Ula’s $87m Series B funding

Ula, an Indonesian B2B ecommerce marketplace, has raised $87 million in a Series B funding round that will finance its geographic, product, and team expansion

The funding round was co-led by venture capital firm Prosus Ventures, Chinese Internet giant Tencent, and global VC investor Capital. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’s Bezos Expeditions also participated in the funding round, along with Northstar Group, AC Ventures, and Citius.

Also participating in the round are existing investors Lightspeed India, Sequoia Capital India, Quona Capital, and Alter Global.

Ula said the fresh capital will allow it to continue empowering Indonesia’s $250-billion strong traditional retail industry. The company has also brought in Pandu Sjahrir, a seasoned investor and entrepreneur, as an advisor to Ula.

Launched in January 2020, Ula currently partners with over 70,000 store owners in Indonesia.

Nipun Mehra, CEO and Co-Founder at Ula, said that Ula’s new investors come with global expertise and share the long-term mindset of the company and they hope to learn from their experience re-imagining retail in other emerging markets.

Sachin Bhanot, Head of Southeast Asia Investments at Prosus Ventures, said they are excited about the impact they will have and to support Ula in their mission.

The latest fundraise comes amidst Indonesia’s worst-ever Covid-19 spike and strengthens Ula’s commitment to supporting the underserved, traditional retailers, especially those in Tier 2 to Tier 4 cities where access to resources and logistical infrastructure is much more challenging.

Derry Sakti, Co-Founder and Chief Commercial Officer at Ula, said their core mission to support traditional retailers is especially relevant during the pandemic.

In just 20 months since launch and in the midst of the pandemic, Ula has grown 230x, currently offering over 6,000 products and serving more than 70,000 traditional retail stores on its platform. With teams spread across 3 countries, it is one of the fastest-growing startups of its kind in the region.

Ula’s previous funding includes a $10.5 million seed round in June 2020 and an additional $20 million Series A round in January 2021.