Jeff Bezos Joins Funding for Lummo, Entering Indonesia's E-commerce Ecosystem - Jawa Pos
In the world of e-commerce, who does not know Jeff Bezos, one of the world’s richest individuals and the founder of Amazon. He is known as a shrewd businessman.
Bezos has begun showing interest in investing in Indonesia. Recently, he made his second investment in the Indonesian startup ecosystem with Lummo.
This is a startup company providing software solutions to connect businesses with direct-to-consumer (D2C) customers, and a software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform. Through his personal asset management office, Bezos Expeditions, Bezos participated in Lummo’s latest Series C funding round worth USD 80 million, or more than Rp 1.1 trillion, led by Tiger Global and Sequoia Capital India.
Bezos’s participation in this funding series is said to aim to strengthen Lummo’s ambitions to accelerate business growth for entrepreneurs and brand owners in Indonesia and across Southeast Asia.
As mentioned earlier, Bezos is globally recognised as a pioneer in the e-commerce world. He is committed to customer service, which is his main guideline towards long-term business growth success.
Lummo’s D2C model is said to align with that commitment because it offers opportunities for entrepreneurs and brand owners to build competitive long-term businesses. By creating strong customer relationships without third parties, entrepreneurs can enhance their businesses and provide added value to their customers.
“We are proud to receive Jeff Bezos’s support in this Series C funding round, at the same time as we are prioritising exponential growth in our business in the long term,” said Krishnan Menon, CEO and Founder of Lummo, in his official announcement on Wednesday (16/2).
He added that this investment further strengthens Lummo’s efforts to develop D2C solutions to provide greater added value to business owners in Indonesia. In addition, the capital injection from Bezos is expected to accelerate their business growth and maximise operational efficiency by leveraging Lummo’s SaaS solutions.
“Support on this scale underscores our belief that Indonesia and Southeast Asia are the right destinations for technology investors,” Krishnan continued.
For information, Southeast Asia’s internet sector is reported to be growing rapidly, with Indonesia as the main market. According to the 2020 Google Temasek report, the gross merchandise value (GMV) or total online purchases in Southeast Asia’s internet economy will reach more than USD 300 billion by 2025, with Indonesia projected to reach USD 124 billion from the current USD 44 billion.
Unfortunately, digital and financial inclusion still faces gaps, which have been further exacerbated by the pandemic. Participation from innovators and young startups is very much needed to address these challenges.