GoCement Receives Initial Funding, Digitizes Construction Industry Through B2B Marketplace

Construction-specific B2B marketplace startup “GoCement” has successfully secured early-stage funding from Arise (a collaboration fund between MDI Ventures and Finch Capital), MDI Ventures, Beenext, and Ideosource.

No mention of the nominal funds obtained in this round. The company ensures that the fresh funds will be used to accelerate the development of B2B market products by introducing large distributors into its platform, including utilizing the Arise network of state-owned construction companies.

GoCement was founded in 2020 during a pandemic by Djonny Suwanto and AsangaAbhayawardhana who have more than 30 years of experience in the construction industry because they both come from a manufacturer and distributor background.

With mature experience in the building materials trading industry, it is a good provision to encourage the growth rate of construction technology.

The service seeks to digitize the existing construction industry by creating a marketplace that leverages decentralized distribution of building materials via cloud manufacturing.

This model is achieved by directing manufacturers, distributors, building retail stores, contractors and other individual consumers into a single platform.

By leveraging cloud manufacturing, GoCement will empower local SME manufacturers to scale up their load cells to capture a larger clientele.

The dramatic need for digital transformation has been amplified through the pandemic, the growth of the B2B market surging 16% over the past few years.

GoCement Provides Innovative Solutions

The reasons for the explosion of construction technology mainly revolve around the challenges it faces with high fragmentation, poor communication, and lack of data transparency. GoCement provides innovative solutions to address the challenges that exist in the market.

GoCement CEO & Founder Djonny Suwanto said, “construction is a massive industry, a complex ecosystem from project owners, developers, architects, general contractors, subcontractors to handymen (foreman/builders), and many more.” He even called this industry the last dinosaur ready for technological disruption.

Over the years, he observed some significant problems in the construction industry, mainly driven by inefficient material procurement and the transportation of bulky, low-value goods. Contractors must be able to save time and hassle to generate productivity.

“GoCement is here to revolutionize the industry by providing transparency and procurement of building materials as well as efficient recruitment of equipment through innovation & technology,” he said in an official statement, Monday (18/10).

Arise Aldi’s partner Adrian Hartanto explained that the Indonesian construction industry is similar to India because it is dominated by several big players. 

The opportunity allows players like Infra.Market to build networks that help small producers grow their businesses and compete with more established companies. Infra.Market is a similar startup from India that has a large market share in the country.

This spirit forms a common vision for GoCement to reduce excess capacity in this industry through digitization and empowerment of all relevant stakeholders in Indonesia.

“We have full confidence that Djonny and Asanga, given their highly compatible backgrounds, are joining our strong resources and network in the national construction boom to spearhead GoCement’s success,” he explained.

Ideosource partner Edward Chamdani adds, “We believe that GoCement will be the next big thing in the ConTech industry through supply chain digitization; so the presence of GoCement will enable end users to access high quality yet affordable products and deliver them to even less accessible areas.”

B2B Marketplace Market Share

In his upload, Arise explained that with the increasing digital adoption driven by the global pandemic, the B2C marketplace has become one of the most benefited.

But in Asia, this segment accounts for nearly 80% of global B2B transaction sales, reaching $6.1 trillion. “The figure shows a significant untapped opportunity on the other side, which caught our attention at Arise,” the company wrote.

Unlike the B2C marketplace, the B2B marketplace sector faces significant limitations due to the different nature of the industry – requiring a tailored and specialized approach. A similar trend is also emerging in Southeast Asia which takes a different path regarding the rules of the B2C marketplace.

Instead of “winner takes all” it becomes “winners in every vertical” such as agriculture, F&B retail, consumer goods, construction supplies, manufacturing, office supplies, and others.