Desty, a startup that offers social commerce solutions to Indonesian businesses, announced today that it has raised US$3.2 million in a pre-Series A round sponsored by Chinese venture capital firm 5Y Capital.
5Y, formerly Morningside Venture Capital, is a Chinese venture capital firm that has backed startups like Xiaomi and Kuaishou. This is 5Y’s first venture into the archipelago.
Fosun RZ Capital, January Capital, IN Capital, and East Ventures, who also invested in Desty’s seed round, are among the other investors in the newest round.
The startup will use the funding primarily for team expansion and user acquisition. “We have our laser focus on serving online merchants and users in the ecosystem. We only have one goal, which is to make sure they can grow their business efficiently. Our team has over 15 years of experience with merchants and their digital operations, which we believe is key to the growth of the economy in Indonesia,” said co-founder and CEO Mulyono Xu.
Desty is a digital platform that lets merchants, influencers, and artists create a single online location to promote and sell their items. It was founded by Xu and Bill Wang (COO) in October 2020.
Users can establish their own customized online store and generate landing pages optimized for linking in bios in just a few minutes for free.
Desty Page and Desty Store are the startup’s two main offerings at the moment.
Desty Page is a landing page service that is optimized for linking on social media accounts, particularly Instagram, whilst the latter allows users to easily build an online store to supplement their marketplace presence.
Desty Academy, a channel of knowledge and training materials, was launched to help users expand their businesses by providing practical how-tos, best practices, and case studies.
Desty’s inception and funding coincide perfectly with Indonesia’s significant e-commerce expansion during the pandemic.
In 2020, the country’s online transactions increased by 18.1% to 98.3 million, with 12 million new e-commerce customers.
