BukuKas, a digital ledger app for micro, small, and medium enterprises in Indonesia, has closed a pre-Series A funding round of $9 million backed by Sequoia Capital India’s Surge, Saison Capital, Speedinvest, S7V, January Capital and Cambium Grove Capital.
In an official release, the startup said that the latest capital infusion brings its total funds raised to $12 million. The startup raised an unspecified amount in seed investment in April.
Across the two rounds, the company has also roped in several prominent angel investors including Edward Tirtanata (Kopi Kenangan), Willy Arifin (KoinWorks, Alternate Ventures), Nipun Mehra (Ula, Sequoia India) and Patrick Walujo (Northstar Ventures).
The fresh capital will be used to expand its product offerings and build on its foothold in the Indonesian market, where the MSME segment contributes to over 60 per cent of the country’s GDP.
Founded in December 2019, BukuKas helps MSMEs manage their financial flows more effectively with easy-to-use digital bookkeeping that traders can download through their smartphones.
Its solution enables MSMEs to monitor sales, profits, and credit and send payment reminder messages via WhatsApp to their customers.
As of today, the company claims to have 800,000 small merchants and retailers from across 700 cities and districts on its platform, with the annualised value of transactions exceeding $1.3 billion.
“The speed at which BukuKas has grown in the last 8 months since launch has shown us that more than ever, Indonesian small businesses are ready to go digital. 73% of merchants are outside of tier-1 cities today – and very few products and services are built for them,” said BukuKas CEO & co-founder Krishnan Menon.
Among its peers vying for market share in the bookkeeping space for MSMEs is Quona Capital-backed BukuWarung, which announced a pre-Series A round last month, bringing its total raised capital to an “eight-figure” sum.
Indonesia’s small businesses, characterized by warungs or mom and pop shops, have attracted a host of offerings from well-funded startups such as Warung Pintar, GudangAda and Wahyoo as well as e-commerce giants such as Tokopedia and Bukalapak.
