CrediBook Closes Series A Funding of 116 Billion Rupiah Led by Monk’s Hill Ventures

Digital bookkeeping SaaS startup CrediBook announced the acquisition of Series A funding of $8.1 million (over 116 billion Rupiah) led by Monk’s Hill Ventures, with the participation of several former investors, namely Insignia Ventures Partners and Wavemaker Partners.

Both were investors in a $1.5 million pre-series A round that closed in January 2021. The company will use this fresh fund for national expansion, technology development, and employee recruitment.

Then, the expansion of CrediMart’s digital wholesale services, through the addition of product categories and conventional wholesale store partnerships and expansion of operational areas.

In an official statement, CrediBook Co-founder & CEO Gabriel Frans said, the company will focus on answering operational problems faced by wholesalers, as well as working on great potential in the wholesale segment through CrediMart.

Based on the data he quoted, in Indonesia there are around 200 thousand wholesale businesses serving 65 million retailers and contributing more than 60% to GDP.

Moreover, based on the activities of non-agricultural MSMEs, the estimated size of the market is $260 billion. “This number is very large, so CrediBook wants to exploit this potential through the launch of a digital wholesale service, CrediMart, in September 2021,” Gabriel said, Tuesday (5/4).

Resolve Wholesale Store Operational Issues

CrediMart was born from operational problems experienced by conventional wholesale stores that do not have similar digital wholesale services.

For wholesalers, CrediMart provides an online ordering application to make it easier for wholesale stores to receive orders and manage stock more quickly, and is equipped with digital bookkeeping features.

As for retail, CrediMart provides online wholesale shopping services, overdue payments, and next-day delivery services. Since its launch, CrediMart has attracted around 60 thousand wholesalers and retailers spread across more than 40 cities.

Its partners provide a variety of wholesale products, ranging from daily necessities, leading medicines, stationery and office supplies, to building materials.

Its revenue growth is claimed to increase up to seven times, increase 50% of daily sales of wholesale partners, and increase unique retail customers by 56%.

Through the digital bookkeeping application, CrediBook wants business actors to have neat financial reports and facilitate access to financing. Meanwhile, CrediMart is increasing the digital capacity of conventional wholesalers through order management and store inventory.

“CrediMart’s wholesale partners also welcome the digital services we provide because CrediMart helps to improve their business from the daily sales aspect.”

Users from Regencies and Villages in Indonesia

For CrediBook itself, it is claimed that 40% of its users come from districts and villages in Indonesia. This application has also helped wholesale and retail players make neat financial reports in less than five minutes and has been proven to help speed up the process of applying for People’s Business Credit (KUR).

Regarding this funding, Monk’s Hill Ventures Partner Susli Lie said, for the last two years his party has been observing Gabriel and the CrediBook team working to comprehensively digitize wholesalers.

Currently, the process of procuring wholesale and retail goods is still done manually and is in dire need of digitization. Talking about the potential, there are more than 65 million MSME actors who can be targeted by users.

CrediBook has identified issues that need to be resolved, namely operational efficiency (digital bookkeeping applications and digital wholesalers), access to finance, and encouraging expansion for wholesalers to larger retail customers.

“We are very happy to be a part of CrediBook’s journey which has mapped the potential of digitizing bookkeeping and digital wholesalers in Indonesia,” said Susli.

Two years since its launch, the CrediBook startup has three services that focus on developing a digital ecosystem for MSME players, namely the digital bookkeeping application, the CrediMart digital wholesale platform, and the CrediStore online store management application.

Previously, the CrediBook digital bookkeeping application had succeeded in reaching MSME players in tier 2 and 3 regions, around 45 percent of the total users.

Throughout 2021, CrediBook is also actively providing digital and financial literacy training activities for eight thousand MSME players in various regions and has helped users get KUR through neat financial reports.