Social good(s)

• Just three months after closing a pre-Series A funding round, 500-backed Dagangan has secured US$11.5 million in a Series A funding led by Monk’s Hill Ventures.
• Dagangan is a social e-commerce platform that supplies fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) to underserved rural communities in Indonesia.
• The startup plans to grow its in-house white-label products, expand its digital product features, and grow partnerships with community leaders, key opinion leaders, local entrepreneurs, and village chiefs. It also aims to expand its footprint in tier-3 cities and tier-4 villages in the country.
• Dagangan distributes more than 20 private-labeled products through its Android app, including rice, brown sugar, and snack items. It says it has more than 20,000 active users on the platform that manage over 3,000 SKUs (stock-keeping units).
• According to the article, Dagangan has covered more than 5,000 villages in over 50 regencies. It has also distributed over 20 local products from smaller farmers and distributors to a broader market.
• Read the full article on e27 here.

From zero to hero

• How do you turn a product that your target market doesn’t want into one used by more than 6,000 fish farmers across 120 cities? Gibran Huzaifah, the CEO of 500-backed eFishery, shares with KrAsia.
• At first, reception to his automated feeding system was poor as fish farmers were happy to stick to their decades-old way of running their farms. They even refused the fish feeder even when offered free-of-charge.
• In the end, it was forging close relationships with the farmers that started the ball rolling. Now, its automatic feeding system is claimed to save up to 21% of the feeding cost and boost productivity and convenience. The product has even attracted more women to participate in the aquaculture sector.
• So, what’s next for the startup? “We will continue to grow,” Gibran said. “We plan to expand to other countries, starting with neighboring countries in ASEAN.”
• Read the full interview on KrAsia here.

Banking on the small guys

• “I think I want to build a bank” – it was this spark of an idea from Krishnan Menon that led to him and Lorenzo Peracchione co-founding 500-backed BukuKas. In this podcast, Lorenzo shared their entrepreneurial journey.
• The startup first launched as a digital bookkeeping app.  The duo realized that there was a gap in the small and medium enterprise (SME) market. These companies have been left out in the digital revolution, Lorenzo said. And they were lacking in business and financial solutions tailored to their needs.
• They discovered that many don’t have clear visibility of their business performance through speaking to merchants – even basic numbers like sales and profits. Merchants also have trouble managing their cash flow. So, Lorenzo and Krishnan set out to help merchants know how their business is doing, so they can make good business decisions.
• The original idea still stands. BukuKas still has eyes on eventually growing into an SME-focused digital bank.
• Listen to the full podcast here.