Bananas, a quick commerce startup based in Indonesia, announced Monday that it has secured $1 million in seed funding led by East Ventures, with the participation from SMDV, ARISE, MDI Ventures and a few angel investors.
Bananas said in a statement that it has also been accepted into the prestigious YCombinator Winter 2022 batch that has a 2 percent acceptance rate among tech startups who applied globally, adding Y Combinator as one of Bananas’ investors with their new $500,000 investment. Hence, Bananas has successfully secured a total of $1.5 million in the seed round of funding.
It also said the investment will accelerate Bananas in tapping into the e-grocery sector in Indonesia, where it is a multi-billion dollar market in Indonesia and forecasted to reach US$ 170 million in 2022.
The funding will be utilized to expand its talent, mainly to support its operations including from the product, tech-enabled micro-hubs (dark stores), inventory, to customer services.
Bananas is aiming to reach at least 50 dark stores primarily located in Jakarta and other tier-1 cities in Indonesia in the near future.
“We are glad to receive this round of funding, where it will accelerate our mission to revolutionize the grocery shopping experience in the market. Bananas was established during the pandemic era, when we realized the needs of customers of top quality grocery items, speed, and convenience during these difficult times,” said Mario Gaw, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Bananas.
Founded in late 2021, Bananas aims to bridge the market with the future of grocery shopping. Customers can shop the desired grocery item, pay, and expect the delivery to be completed within 10 minutes on average through the Bananas mobile application. Bananas has built dark stores near high-density residential neighborhoods to deliver the groceries close to being instant.
“We believe our tech solution will provide ease and save the hassle of grocery shopping, leading to more time that can be spent with loved ones,” said Kristian Sinaulan, Founder and Chief Technology Officer of Bananas.
According to the statement, Mario and Kristian wanted to change how people do groceries in today’s busy worldwhere spare time is better spent on quality time with family rather than doing weekly grocery shopping. Designed for busy young families and independent professionals, Bananas also aims to change groceries for the better by delivering your groceries including fresh fruits and vegetables and other grocery items in top quality directly to customer home in minutes and at retail prices.
“We are pleased to welcome Bananas as part of East Ventures’ portfolio. We believe quick commerce will have massive growth and opportunities in the market, especially considering the big untapped market of groceries in Indonesia. We are looking forward to experiencing more positive growth of Bananas in revolutionizing e-grocery shopping in Indonesia,” said Devina Halim, Vice President of Investment at East Ventures.
Meanwhile, ARISE Partner Aldi Adrian Hartanto said :“ The company’s ability to execute flawlessly in an extremely short period of time, supported by such a well rounded team like Mario and Kristian has fully convinced us to back Bananas. Representing our conviction towards the quick-commerce category, we are proud to partner with the Bananas team and excited to see great things ahead.”
According to the statement, Mario and Kristian are a pair of ex-Lazada Indonesia early employees with a strong background in ecommerce, logistics, warehouse management, and retail. Together with 20 team members who have extensive experiences in tech startups and building e-commerce platforms, Bananas consistently serves customers with top quality fresh fruits, vegetables, and other grocery items in minutes and at retail prices.
“We are glad to welcome Bananas as part of the YCombinator Winter 2022 batch. We have witnessed many successful e-grocery companies in other countries, which made us believe that Bananas’ solution combined with the strong skill-set and background of the founding team will create another success story in providing ease of quick and top quality grocery shopping for the Indonesian consumers,” said Tim Brady, Group Partner at Y Combinator.