Freelancing Platform Sribu Acquired by Japanese HR Company

Freelance marketplace platform Sribu announced that it had been acquired by Mynavi Corporation Japan, an HR company with more than 40 years of experience, with an undisclosed amount. This acquisition marks Mynavi’s debut in expanding its business portfolio in Indonesia.

In a virtual press conference held (30/3), Founder and CEO of Sribu Ryan Gondokusumo said that this corporate action has been completed since early 2022, making Mynavi the largest shareholder in the company. He also made sure that there were no changes in the management and operations of Sribu.

The reason the company wanted to be acquired was because it saw the similarity of Mynavi’s strong vision and mission in the field of human resources. Sribu can take full advantage of Mynavi’s expertise and experience to help develop its business.

“Mynavi wanted to come in because of our strong management, the more focused we are the sharper we can grow. This will not change, so Mynavi’s trust and support will take us to the next level.”

Ryan’s opinion was also supported by Mynavi’s representative, Kazuyoshi Miyamoto, who was also present on the occasion. He said, Sribu is a company with deep experience in the field of freelancers in the Indonesian market, thanks to the support of a solid team.

In terms of potential, it is also great. This condition is also reflected in Japan, which has the potential for young freelancers.

“Through our experience, track record and expertise in the field of human resources, we hope to be able to help develop the HR sector in Indonesia by providing quality human resources and building infrastructure that presents various alternative ways of working for Indonesian workers.”

Ryan added that the support from Mynavi will be a strong foundation before Sribu ensures itself to expand to the regional level in the next three to four years.

“Our organization will be more organized, but at the same time remain focused on making us a profitable company. We will do this step by step, while still making Indonesia the main target. Must strengthen the local market [before going to the region].”

Sribu’s Trip since Its Establishment

Sribu itself has been established since 2011 with a management team, Ryan Gondokusumo (CEO), Dermawan Lobion (CTO), Wei Leen (CMO), and Sanjay Kischand (COO). The team is 42 people.

Until now, the company has recruited 26 thousand curated freelancers and served more than 15 thousand companies, not only local but also multinational companies.

These workers have expertise related to content creation, such as design, writing, website creation, photography, videography, and social media marketing.

In the company’s decade-long track record, the company received seed funding from East Ventures in 2012. Two years later, it received funding from Asteria.

In 2018, CrowdWorks also injected Sribu. Both investors are from Japan. In terms of product innovation, Sribu launched Sribulancer in 2015.

About Sribulancer

Sribulancer is a site that brings together business with freelancers to work on projects with a shorter scope, such as freelance programmers, website designers, graphic designers, voice overs, video creators, article writers, and others.

Next, in 2017 it released Sribu Solution which made Sribu an agency for large companies that want to enter the digital realm and need an integrated digital marketing service solution.

In Indonesia, the potential of the freelancer market is very tasty. The number of workers is estimated at 4.14 million people. They are able to execute work related to digital content worth IDR 29 trillion. It is estimated that there are 683 thousand companies that require the services of freelancers, which operate in various business scales.

“We see very good developments in this freelancing field. Business actors are increasingly open to the concept of freelance. Likewise, the workforce increasingly sees freelancing as a job with bright prospects,” said Ryan.

During the pandemic, even the company saw the growing number of prospective freelancers who registered at Sribu. This means that freelance work is getting more attention and can be the first step in cultivating an entrepreneurial spirit.