Indonesian start-up Social Bella secured $58 million in a Series E funding round from existing investors Temasek, Pavilion Capital, and Jungle Ventures.
WHO: Founded in 2015, Social Bella has evolved from an e-commerce platform to a physical and digital ecosystem. To date, it has six physical stores across Indonesia, opening a flagship omnichannel store last year. In addition to the online and offline platform Sociolla, Social Bella also offers an end-to-end distributor service for beauty and personal care brands.
It also operates the consumer review platform SOCO as well as beauty and lifestyle online media Beauty Journal, which also provides an online-to-offline marketing service. The company’s latest venture is Lilla by Sociolla, a beauty and personal care e-commerce service designed for “young and sophisticated mothers.”
IN THEIR OWN WORDS: “The fresh funding will be used to scale up the startup’s tech infrastructure and boost its share of Indonesia’s beauty and personal care market,” its co-founder and president Christopher Madiam said in a statement.
Despite the pandemic, Madiam said Sociolla noticed “a record high basket size. This pandemic has massively challenged almost all businesses globally. However, we are adapting quickly to the challenge and continue to serve our consumers’ needs.”
Co-founder and Managing Partner of East Ventures Willson Cuaca said the company has the potential and readiness to win the beauty market. Social Bella is considered to be able to offers products that are still relevant to the market.
“We are pleased that the Sociolla team acted decisively and resilient during this pandemic and we are very confident that they will emerge stronger after this crisis,” Cuaca said.
“Our investment in Social Bella is a crucial portfolio in Indonesia as we never saw a comprehensive beauty platform similar to it. This investment opens up the opportunity for us to expand our regional partnerships,” said David Gowdey, Managing Partner at Jungle Ventures.
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