Jeff Bezos’s investment firm joins funding round of Ula
09:00, 4 October 2021
Bezos Expeditions, the investment company of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, which invested in the likes of Airbnb and Uber, is among investors participating in a $87m (£64m) funding round of Indonesian e-commerce start-up Ula.
The funding round was led by Eduardo Saverin’s B-Capital, Tencent, and Prosus Ventures, while Southeast Asia-focused funds under Northstar Group, AC Ventures, and Citius also participated in the fundraising.
Existing investors Lightspeed India, Sequoia Capital India, Quona Capital and Alter Global also participated in the Series B funding round. The latest round brought Ula’s fundraising, so far, to $117.5m, the start-up said in an email.
Serving small, traditional retail
“Our core mission to support traditional retailers is especially relevant during the pandemic. We are deliberately strengthening our presence, selection, and services in rural areas and hard-to-reach neighbourhoods,” Ula’s co-founder and chief commercial officer, Derry Sakti, said.
Ula was founded just prior to the Covid-19 outbreak in 2020 to enhance traditional mom and pop stores, locally known as ‘warung’, with technology to improve the efficiency of the company’s goods procurement and increase its operating margins.
The start-up claims that within 20 months of its inception, Ula currently serves over 70,000 retail stores across Indonesia, connecting them with over 6,000 fast-moving consumer goods products on its platform.
“With Ula, they no longer have to worry about sourcing, product availability, or even payments, which frees up their time to focus on other important things,” said Derry,