Startup Social Bella Expands to Vietnam after Receiving Funding

Social Bella as a beauty tech startup from Indonesia has just announced that it has expanded into the international market for the first time. The target market is Vietnam through the presence of Sociolla services.

According to Social Bella, this expansion has been carefully calculated, including understanding the behavior of local consumers in the country. The decision to attend Vietnam also followed the latest funding round with a value of USD 58 thousand (around IDR 837 million) from global investors, such as Temasek, Pavilion Capital, and Jungle Ventures.

“As one of the fastest-growing beauty and personal care markets in Southeast Asia plus a digital literate young population, Vietnam has a lot in common with Indonesia,” said Co-Founder and President of Social Bella, Christopher Madiam in an official statement received on Thursday ( 15/10/2020).

For this reason, according to Christopher, Social Bella feels Vietnam is the right country as part of their first international expansion plan.

Moreover, based on the Cosmeticsdesign-asia.com report, the beauty and personal care market in Vietnam remained strong and adaptive during the Covid-19 pandemic. The country’s beauty sector is also experiencing growth of around 80 percent on online platforms.

“Our latest funding demonstrates the strong trust and support of our investors. This has also strengthened our enthusiasm and confidence in making strategic decisions to expand,” said Christopher further.

Not only that, but Social Bella also collaborates with ESQA as a vegan beauty product from Indonesia. So, ESQA became a brand that expanded me with Sociolla to Vietnam.

Social Bella Raises IDR 837 Billion Funding from Global Investors

In July 2020, Social Bella announced that it had received funding from global investors, such as Temasek, Pavilion Capitol, and Jungle Ventures. Funding amounting to USD 58 million (around IDR 837 billion) was received amidst business conditions that were shaken due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

This latest funding round is said to further enhance the company’s growth in the beauty care market in Indonesia. For information, according to the Euromonitor report, the beauty care market will grow to USD 8.5 billion or around IDR 122.7 trillion in 2022.

Therefore, with the continued support of its investors, Bella Social Co-Founder and President Christopher Madiam said the startup is well-positioned to unlock this growth potential. This is supported by a sustainable business model and a comprehensive ecosystem.

On the other hand, according to Christopher, this pandemic is a challenge for the whole business globally. However, Social Bella as a startup is able to adapt quickly, so that it can still serve consumer needs.

Therefore, Christopher said the company experienced a significant increase in organic traffic during the quarantine period. “Therefore, we are very grateful for the confidence of investors in the midst of this difficult time,” he said.

Social Bella’s Development

To note, Social Bella is a startup launched in 2015. This startup already has several business units, such as SOCO, Beauty Journal, Sociolla, Lilla by Sociolla, and Brand Development. Later, this funding will be used to improve the technology infrastructure of Social Bella. This was expressed by the Co-Founder and CEO of Social Bella John Rasjid.

“With strong support from the technological aspect in our daily routine, we aim to be more relevant to consumers and provide a better shopping experience,” he explained.

Regarding this funding, Wilson Weather’s Co-Founder and Managing Partner of East Ventures who is also Social Bella’s business partner said, East Ventures has indeed seen Social Bella’s potential and readiness to win the beauty market.

The funding was led by East Venture Growth, Temasek, Pavilion Capitol, and Jungle Venture. Apart from having an e-commerce business line, this startup also has a Sociolla Store with an omni-channel concept.