To supply FMCG to underprivileged rural communities, Indonesia-based Dagangan secures US $11.5 M
Dagangan, a social e-commerce platform that brings fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) to Indonesia’s disadvantaged rural areas, has raised $11.5 million in Series A investment headed by Monk’s Hill Ventures.
MMS Group, K3 Ventures, Spiral Ventures, and PnP were among the other investors.
The additional funds will be used to expand Dagangan’s in-house white-label items, such as frozen meals, groceries, and home appliances.
A part of the funds will be utilized to grow the company’s digital product features, including pay later, logistics pickup and delivery, and talent acquisition. Dagangan will also expand its collaborations with community leaders, important opinion leaders, local businesses, and village heads.
Dagangan also intends to extend its presence in tier-3 cities and tier-4 villages throughout Indonesia, including Java, Sumatra, and Kalimantan.
Dagangan received an unknown amount of pre-series A investment from CyberAgent Capital, Spiral Ventures, 500 Startups, and Bluebird Group three months ago.
Dagangan, which was founded in 2019 by Ryan Manafe and Wilson Yanaprasetya, provides FMCG via an Android app and relationships with community leaders. It reaches out to key opinion leaders (KOLs) in a new market using a tech-enabled hub-and-spoke method. In key regions, for example, village chiefs, microentrepreneurs, or community leaders.
Dagangan will engage with the supply chain, including FMCG makers, wholesalers, and warung owners (store owners), to deliver group orders generated by the KOL to customers within 24 hours after building these critical relationships.
The company’s app is used to place group orders. Dagangan also collaborates with local farmers to manufacture private-label items such as groceries.
Dagangan also allows direct product delivery from producers or farmers to users, eliminating the need for numerous distribution levels and resulting in a more efficient supply chain.
Its group-buying approach pools demand based on geography, allowing users to make a joint purchase with other purchasers with the help of brokers who will help with the entire user experience.
Dagangan has reached over 5,000 communities in over 50 regencies so far. It has also marketed over 20 local goods to a larger market from smaller farmers and wholesalers.
It sells about 20 private-label products, including rice, brown sugar, and snack foods. Dagangan now has over 20,000 active users managing over 3,000 SKUs.
“Supplying basic daily necessities to rural communities in Indonesia continues to be one of the most complex problems to solve with existing inefficient supply chains and logistics networks. Dagangan’s hub-and-spoke model has shown impressive traction and an early proven track record that is impacting communities,” said Peng T. Ong, co-founder and managing partner of Monk’s Hill Ventures.
