Flash Coffee Enters Centaur Ranks After Closing Series B1 Funding

Flash Coffee recently booked another round of funding, this time for the B1 series. Although reluctant to mention the details, the company representative confirmed the news.

It is even said that the closing of the B2 round will soon follow and has the potential to turn the coffee chain startup into a unicorn.

From the data that has been submitted to the regulator, a number of investors were involved in the B1 Flash Coffee round. The funds raised amounted to more than $30 million, catapulting the company’s valuation to $175 million and cementing them in the cenatur ranks.

Previously in 2021, Flash Coffee had booked a series A funding of $15 million. White Star Capital led this funding, followed by a number of other investors, namely DX Venture, Global Founders Capital, and Conny & Co.

Founder & CEO of Flash Coffee David Brunier at that time revealed that the company would expand to 10 countries in Asia Pacific by targeting 300 new outlets or three new outlets every week.

He considers that the retail coffee outlet market in Indonesia is very attractive and has great room for growth. In addition to the high population, the upper middle class segment is thirsty to try new products and coffee consumption per capita continues to increase.

Flash Coffee was founded in January 2020, and now has more outlets in Indonesia, Singapore, and Thailand. It is claimed that the majority of Flash Coffee outlets have made a profit, as well as showing the success of their business model.

According to data on its website, there are currently around 82 outlets spread across the Greater Jakarta area. Flash Coffee is still able to attract coffee lovers even during the pandemic.

Technology-Based Coffee Shop Growth

In the last two years, technology-enabled coffee shop platforms have received substantial funding. Starting from Fore Coffee, Promise Jiwa, Jago Coffee, to Kopi Kenangan.

Even though the F&B business is under a lot of pressure during the pandemic, a technology-based (O2O) approach allows these coffee chain startups to survive and accelerate their business.

One of them is the grab & go concept, using the developed application, users can make orders and payments to be picked up at the nearest outlet.

Or take advantage of food delivery services. According to research (MIX, 2020), 40% of young coffee customers in Indonesia are also starting to switch to grab & go outlets.

The demand is supported by a shift away from instant coffee, as consumers want a higher quality drink — as well as pairing it with complementary snacks.

The products sold on average are in the middle price range, below premium coffee, but above instant coffee. The presence of the application is also not solely used for transactions.

But also as a medium to increase user retention through a series of promotional programs and loyalty-based activities. Moreover, traffic in the application is also useful data for studying user habits and trends to be later translated into product and service innovations.

Collaborating with BOOM Esports

Flash Coffee, one of the coffee shop chains in Indonesia, collaborates with BOOM Esports, a veteran team of Indonesian esports. Launched on May 28, 2022, this collaboration menu can be enjoyed until November 27, 2022.

The menu provided consists of two types of drinks and two snacks. You can get it at all Flash Coffee outlets or can be ordered through the Flash Coffee application, as well as all delivery channels (Go Food, Grab Food, Shopee Food, and Traveloka Eats).

The Flash Coffee and BOOM drink menus consist of BOOMIES LATTE, a blend of premium espresso with fresh milk and black tea. BOOMIES SHAKE, is a unique and fresh non-coffee drink by combining fresh milk, strawberry syrup and premium matcha.

All of these drink menus were formulated directly by Robby Firlian, Head Barista Flash Coffee Indonesia and the winner of the 2018 Indonesian Latte Art Championship.