Indonesia's Bukalapak Is Said Near Closing New Fundraising Round
Indonesia's Bukalapak Is Said Near Closing New Fundraising Round
(Bloomberg) -- PT Bukalapak.com, an Indonesian e-commerce marketplace, is preparing to complete a new round of fundraising that includes $50 million from Mirae Asset-Naver Growth Fund, according to people familiar with the matter.
The investment may be announced as soon as this week, said the people, asking not to be identified because the details aren’t yet public. They declined to comment on the total size of the financing or the startup’s new valuation. Chief Executive Officer Achmad Zaky said a year ago that Bukalapak had become a unicorn, breaching a valuation of $1 billion. The company declined comment for this story.
Indonesia, the largest economy in Southeast Asia, is turning into a hotly contested market for e-commerce. Bukalapak is the second most-visited online site after PT Tokopedia, according to iPrice Group. Bukalapak’s investors include Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC Pte, China’s Ant Financial and Indonesia’s Emtek, while Tokopedia is backed by Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and SoftBank Group Corp.
Bukalapak, which means “open stall,” was founded in Jakarta in 2010. It has become something of a bazaar for shoppers seeking bargains and used items in quantities not often found on other platforms.
To contact the reporter on this story: Yoolim Lee in Singapore at yoolim@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Robert Fenner at rfenner@bloomberg.net, Peter Elstrom, Edwin Chan
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