Fabelio, an online furniture retailer managed to secure US$9 million from its Series C funding round, boosting its total funding to approximately US$20 million.
The injection of fresh funds was led by Taiwan- based venture firm Appworks, Endeavour Catalyst, and Telkom Group- backed MDI Ventures. Existing investor Aavishkar Capital which led the startup’s Series B funding also participated in the round.
Appwork’s Partner Jessica Liu will be joining Fabelio’s Board of Directors as part of this latest funding round.
Fabelio plans to use the funding to accelerate the expansion of the company’s logistic hubs and experience centres to several regions in Indonesia, such as Java and Bali in November 2020.
The Jakarta- based furniture e- tailer was established in 2015 by Marshall Tegar Utoyo, CEO and co- founder of Fabelio. The startup offers design- centric furnitures from local designers at reasonable prices, offering free- of- charge, same- day delivery and a two- year warranty for all of its products.
Marshall said, “Our main focus will be to improve our product categories and improve delivery times. On top of that, we will expand our sphere of influence across Indonesia by opening new warehouses and experience centres in new cities.”
“Additionally, we are seeing more US and Chinese companies are setting up operations in Indonesia, opening up opportunities for global trade and manufacturing. These market trends, combined with their efforts will enable us to win a larger market share in this exciting US$6.7 billion home furniture market in Indonesia,” he added.
He also explained that Fabelio’s main focus for 2020 is to increase market share that would be supported by HR recruitment efforts in engineering, online marketing efforts, product development and operational improvements.
The company also provides B2B (business- to- business) service for properties, such as interior- design consultancy for those seeking to furnish homes, offices, hotels or restaurants.
Fabelio claims that so far it has accumulated more than 1,000 B2B projects. This includes office buildings and retail brands such as Citraland, BRI and Jakarta MRT. The e-tailer has three domestic offices and 20 showrooms in Jabodetabek and Banding with 430 staff.
Co-Founder Fabelio Christian Sutardi added that, in recent years, the contribution of online sales to every vertical industry in Indonesia has seen a significant increase, in terms of electronics, fashion, groceries, and furniture. This trend is expected to continue to increase, due to the pandemic effect of corona virus or Covid-19.
“A significant portion of the funding will be invested in technology, which includes scaling up our current team of 40 engineers.” said Christian Sutardi, co-founder at Fabelio
The furniture e- tailer is also actively seeking regional investors in Southeast Asia and China to close the Series C round by the end of 2020. Thus, it enables the company to achieve its mission of providing quality furniture and enhancing customer service.
