Christian Sugiono’s Startup Got Funding from East Ventures

CUMI announced the acquisition of seed funding from East Ventures. CUMI itself is known as a startup founded by Indonesian actor, Christian Sugiono. This startup will use the fresh funds to attract more users, expand service coverage, and recruit employees.

CUMI Co-Founder and CEO, Christian Sugiono, explained that the trend of sharing economy business models have changed the habits of today’s generation. This startup aims to allow users to use various items without buying them. It suits the name CUMI which stands for CUma MInjem (Just renting).

“CUMI is here to help users use a variety of items without buying it,” Christian said it during a press release on Friday (9/27). This startup will become a goods rental marketplace with a range of categories. Users can access CUMI services via the site or Android app.

This startup will gather vendors on one platform. Each vendor and tenant is required to include telephone numbers and confirm bank accounts as well as identify their ID cards. These items are compulsory to use CUMI services. This way, only reliable vendors can join the platform.

CUMI Has a Strict Strategy to Select Vendors

To provide any goods and services which are reliable for every user, CUMI has a particular strategy to select vendors. Thanks to the careful process, CUMI can guarantee all goods and services offered by its platform are in the best quality possible.

“CUMI also opens opportunities for people who already have goods to gain extra income by renting goods,” he said. Initially launched in May 2018, CUMI’s platform aggregates vendors from 12 different categories, including fashion, pocket Wi-Fi, automotive, cameras, books, gadgets, books, and some others.

Christian founded CUMI with Pandu Wirawan and Yazid Faizin. Pandu as the co-founder and chief operations officer said that CUMI aims to become the top destination for all rental items. Not only in Indonesia, but Pandu also hoped that CUMI can become the best choice in all of Southeast Asia.

He said CUMI has become a contender in Indonesia’s increasing sharing economy that is projected to grow to USD 335 billion in 2025 from USD 15 billion in 2014. CUMI claims to have 5,000 users and 500 verified vendors coming from all across the Jakarta Metropolitan Area, Bali, and Surabaya.

The Idea behind the Establishment of CUMI

As parents and travelers, Christian, Pandu, and Yazid often experience a dilemma and are reluctant to purchase things that would be used for a short time only. That encouraged them to build CUMI. Thus, people can enjoy things they need without required to buy it.

“We want our users to enjoy the experience of sharing goods affordably. It would be less expensive from buying the goods themselves,” Pandu explained. Yazid added that the startup wants to provide a platform which makes renting easier than ever.

Meanwhile, Managing Partner of East Ventures, Wilson Cuaca, said that CUMI wants to fix the rental system in Indonesia which was considered being full of problems. Wilson also said that his company is ready to support CUMI in the transformation of the traditional sharing economy business in Indonesia.