Evermos, Indonesia’s leading social commerce platform, has announced an oversubscribed Series B funding round of over US$30 million led by a new investor – UOB Venture Management’s Asia Impact Investment Fund II.
Other participants in the round included IFC, MDI Ventures, Telkomsel Mitra Innovation (TMI) and Future Shape. Existing investors Jungle Ventures and Shunwei Capital also participated in this round.
The fresh funds will be used to expand the leadership and growth teams, enter new geographies, and deepen technology development.
Founded in November 2018 by Ghufron Mustaqim, Iqbal Muslimin, Ilham Taufiq, and Arip Tirta, Evermos enables individuals (resellers) to sell locally sourced products to their community via WhatsApp or social media platforms.
While the resellers focus on generating demand and selling the products, Evermos manages the inventory, logistics, and customer support on its tech-enabled platform, essentially empowering these resellers to operate their own businesses without the need for capital.
Today, Evermos has generated micro-entrepreneurship opportunities for more than 100,000 active resellers across 500+ Tier 2 and 3 cities and regencies.
Products from 500+ brands, of which more than 95% are sourced from local SMEs, are curated and made available on the platform.
These encompass a wide range of products suited to the Indonesian lifestyle including Moslem fashion, halal health and beauty products, and halal food and beverage products, among others.
The business has seen rapid growth with total transaction value increasing by more than 60x over the last 2 years.
“’Ekonomi Gotong Royong’, or ‘Collaborative Economic Empowerment’ is the underpinning philosophy of Evermos. By leveraging our network of resellers, we are providing a platform for our local SMEs to grow their business while enabling our resellers to generate additional income by selling these local products,” said Ghufron Mustaqim, Evermos deputy CEO and co-founder.
Indonesia’s social commerce industry is projected to grow to $25 billion by 2022, according to a 2021 McKinsey report, growth that has been further accelerated by COVID-19 with people looking for alternate sources of income.
The pandemic had impacted employment opportunities in parts of Indonesia, including job losses seen in some families. Some resellers had been able to supplement family incomes through product sales on the Evermos platform, allowing them to earn income to tide their families over in these tough periods.
