BukuWarung Attracts 6.5 Million MSMEs with Total Funding of IDR 1.1 T

Two years since it first launched its service, BukuWarung, a technology company that provides digital financial ecosystems for Indonesian MSMEs, has succeeded in attracting 6.5 million MSME users. 

Also marking its second anniversary, BukuWarung reiterates its recent funding of IDR 861 billion (US$ 60 million). 

This amount is the largest Series A funding ever received by a startup in the MSME sector globally, and brought the total investment collected by BukuWarung to reach IDR 1.1 trillion (US$ 80 million). 

Established in 2019, BukuWarung is committed to helping MSMEs in Indonesia in managing and developing their business efficiently, from digital bookkeeping, online storefronts to payments. 

Supported by the accumulated funding that has been achieved, BukuWarung is ready to produce new innovations to facilitate the user experience in utilizing its application services, as well as carrying out a series of training activities to improve MSME capabilities so that they are ready to go digital. 

MSMEs Become the Main Focus of BukuWarung 

MSMEs are the focus of BukuWarung considering their crucial role in the Indonesian economy. Numbering around 65 million and contributing more than 60 percent to the country’s economy, MSMEs are a key group that will lead Indonesia to become the largest digital economy player in Southeast Asia. 

“Therefore, on this second anniversary, we are ready to develop our business and services to further strengthen BukuWarung’s position as a leading technology startup that contributes to advancing Indonesia’s digital economy through empowering MSMEs,” said Abhinay Peddisetty, CEO and Co-Founder of BukuWarung, in a statement. written statement, Tuesday (24/8/2021). 

President Joko Widodo stated that Indonesia’s digital economy has tremendous potential. In fact, it is predicted that the value could be the largest in Southeast Asia in 2030. 

To achieve that, including through the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the government continues to encourage the digitization of traditional MSMEs. It is expected that the number of MSMEs that go digital will reach 30 million by 2030 (as of 2020 there are only 11.7 million). 

Understanding the character of MSMEs in Indonesia, BukuWarung offers a practical, easy and free solution by prioritizing a simple user experience. We started the BukuWarung application by offering digital financial records that are easy to access and use by MSMEs. 

“We expanded the scope of BukuWarung’s services to enable MSMEs to make digital payments, and to help them make the transition from offline to online to sell merchandise,” continued Abhinay Peddisetty. 

In early August, BukuWarung completed its application with features for selling digital products: mobile phone credit, electricity tokens, and electronic money top-ups. Through this service, MSME players get additional business commodities to offer to customers. 

This means that BukuWarung users have the opportunity to increase their income in the midst of the difficult situation of the COVID-19 pandemic.  

Can Help with the Bill Reminder 

BukuWarung, a bookkeeping and business cash transaction management platform created by PT Buku Usaha Digital or BukuWarung, said that digital features to support MSME operational activities are now increasingly popular. 

Head of Product BukuWarung Mario Nicolas explained that in addition to developing the platform’s main feature as a MSME cash flow recorder, his party revealed one feature that received a positive response from users, namely debt reminders. 

Therefore, if MSMEs become BukuWarung users, the platform can automatically remind customers, and in the reminder message there are also digital or non-cash payment options that can be selected. 

Mario explained that this feature received a positive response because BukuWarung users were dominated by grocery stores, clothing sellers, food stalls, credit sellers, to cosmetic sellers, of course because they often interacted with debts. 

Meanwhile, BukuWarung also developed several other features that were initiated by user requests. Such as physical and digital stock managers, cashier applications, and finally accommodating the sale of digital needs such as credit, electricity, to bills.