Tokban Presents as a B2B Marketplace for Fulfillment of Building Materials

One sector that still has great potential is construction and building. Starting from the provision of building materials to meet the needs of building shops, contractors, to developers.

Seeing this opportunity, Tokban (Toko Bangunan) is here to provide integrated services and solutions to those in need.

With local product options to various payment options, the platform is expected to be an option in fulfilling construction materials, MRO (maintenance, repair, and operation), and other home renovation needs.

Based on experience, the company has seen that construction is still a profitable business from the past.

“However, until now, they are still very fragmented in terms of supply because most of them can only provide a limited choice of brands, making it difficult for them to collaborate with other brands,” said Tokban Co-founder & CEO Jordy Salim.

Difficulty Faced

He added that contractors and developers when they want to get a quotation for the choice of building materials still encounter various difficulties. These difficulties include how to contact suppliers and principals to meet their needs.

“When we met with Co-founder Tiffany Alice Munroe, we finally started to look for the ideal way to meet the needs of building shops and contractors. The reason we chose these two buyers was seen from their work model which was very organized and reliable,” said Jordy.

The building materials available at Tokban are varied, ranging from paints, home appliances, door accessories, and others. Even though they currently focus on the B2B segment, it is possible that in the future Tokban can become an integrated platform that can provide services such as handyman and others for the B2C segment.

Although there are not many, recently a number of startups have appeared trying to resolve issues in the property sector — especially in fulfillment and construction management.

Among them are BRIK and GoCement which present a B2B Commerce platform for the fulfillment of building materials. There is also AMODA for project management. The three startups have already booked initial funding.

Paylater Payment Options

In addition to taking advantage of sales of around 15% margin from suppliers and principals, Tokban also provides payment options to buyers through paylater options of up to IDR 2 billion in accordance with applicable terms and conditions.

Thus, buyers such as building shops and contractors can meet their needs without any cost barriers. This choice was given because of the habit of building shops which often provide payment options after the work is completed, to customers they trust.

“Departing from that concept, we ensured to suppliers and principals that Tokban buyers could then make payments with the paylater option. Of course, after the screening process we carried out. To be able to provide this service we collaborated with multi-finance companies,” said Tokban Co-founder Tiffany Alice Munroe .

Tokban is one of the startups participating in the Cohort 6 Accelerating Asia program. Accelerating Asia launches Fund II in 2021. Cohort 6 is the second wave of investment for Fund II, which will deploy capital to pre-series A startups across Southeast and South Asia.

Currently, Tokban has received capital from the Accelerating Asia acceleration program. In order to accelerate business growth, the company plans to raise funds in the early stages of this year.

Tokban also has plans to acquire 1000-2000 new buyers on the platform. Currently they have partnered with more than 100 suppliers and principals.

For the current service area, Tokban is still focused on the Jabodetabek area. But in the future, judging from the opportunities that exist, it is possible that they will expand outside Jabodetabek.

“Tokban is relevant to be present in Indonesia, as a developing country there is still a lot of development being carried out in various locations. Thus, Tokban can be the right platform to support related parties to launch building construction,” said Tiffany.