Micro-Warehousing Startup, Crewdible Received USD 1.5 Million Fund from Germany Investor

Startup related to logistics or micro-warehousing from Indonesia, Crewdible, announced the acquisition of Pre-series A funding of USD 1.5 million. The investment was led by Global Founders Capital, based in Berlin, Germany. The company plans to use the fresh funds to expand the market to major cities in Indonesia.

Crewdible also wants to improve marketing and systems to support various market needs. This startup connects sellers in e-commerce with warehouse owners. Thus, it is capable to fulfill buyer orders. Crewdible’s partners can utilize empty spaces such as homes, offices, and warehouses to become micro-warehousing.

In its official statement, Crewdible stated that its platform helps warehouse owners find additional income by maximizing free space. On the other hand, for online merchants, this service eliminates overhead costs such as rental and warehouse maintenance. It means that Crewdible offers something beneficial for two parties.

In 2018, Crewdible collected initial undisclosed funding from an angel investor. Since then, the company claims its business has grown more than 40 times in the past year. “With this sophisticated system, we want to support traders at every step,” Sony Gultom, Crewdible’s Founder and Chief Technology Officer (CFO), explained.

Crewdible Is Part of the First GoJek Xcelerate’s Cohort

As reported by Tech in Asia some time ago, Crewdible is part of the first cohort of Gojek Xcelerate, an accelerator program launched by Gojek with Digitaraya earlier this year. Since the beginning of this year, there have been seven Indonesian logistical startups that gain investment.

Thus, the shipper received funding of USD 5 million. The fresh funds themselves were obtained from the United States’ accelerator, Y Combinator, along with Lightspeed Venture Partners, Floodgate, Insignia Ventures Partners, and Convergence Ventures. Other similar startups that have been funded are Paxel USD 10 million and SiCepat USD 50 million.

Then, AllSome Fulfillment, Ritase, Waresik, and Triplogic are the others. “Our team is very solid and strong. With very little funding we got during the initial funding, we can still complete it and do many things,” Dhana Galindra said through a press statement in Jakarta.

He added that with the support of VC for Global Founders Capital or GFC, they are very excited and optimistic that this business can grow even faster. Crewdible itself has evolved into a network of micro-warehousing to help eCommerce merchants.

“This concept has two advantages. Crewdible warehouses can be placed anywhere, even in very expensive and strategic places such as in the city center. With an affordable price, Crewdible does not need to pay overhead costs such as warehouse rental fees, set-up fees, maintenance costs, and others,” he explained.

Crewdible’s Platform Is Suitable for a Side Business

With the benefits provided by Crewdible, Dhana continued, this platform is suitable for office workers who want to continue to have a side business. It is also suitable for housewives or anyone who wants to continue selling without disturbing their main activities.

“E-commerce traders who are not strategically located, do not have stalls selling, but want to expand their business throughout the cities in Indonesia are fortunate with the existence of Crewdible,” Dhana said. A partner from Global Founders Capital in Indonesia, Melvin Hade, shared his thought.

He believed that Crewdible can facilitate online traders in carrying out inventory management, packaging, and logistics. “So, the presence of Crewdible can help online merchants and SMEs to develop their business without having to deal with the complicated matters of inventory management, packaging, and logistics,” Melvin said.

Meanwhile, Crewdible was founded by Dana in May 2016. This platform was created to connect online entrepreneurs to warehouse providers. Crewdible app will record all types of goods and the amount of stock stored. This way, the seller can monitor everything easily via the app.