Gizmologi.com — Jeff Bezos, founder of the world’s largest e-commerce Amazon.com, recently made his second investment in Indonesia’s startup ecosystem, Lummo. This start-up provide business-to-customer liaison software solutions (Direct to Consumer – D2C, software-as-a- services – SaaS).
Jeff Bezos through his personal asset management office, Bezos Expedition, is following the latest US$80 million Series C investment round in Lummo led by Tiger Global and Sequoia Capital India. Bezos participation in this funding series aims to strengthen Lummo’s ambition to accelerate the business growth of entrepreneurs and brand owners in Indonesia and throughout Southeast Asia.
Jeff Bezos is known globally as a pioneer in the world of e-commerce and his commitment to customer service, which is his main guide to successful long-term business growth. Lummo’s D2C model aligns with this commitment as it offers entrepreneurs and brand owners the opportunity to build long-term competitive businesses. By creating strong customer relationships, without third parties, entrepreneurs can improve their business and provide added value to their customers.
“We are proud to have Jeff Bezos’ support in this Series C investment round, while also prioritizing exponential growth in our business over the long term. This investment further strengthens Lummo’s efforts to develop D2C solutions to provide greater added value to business owners in Indonesia, accelerate their business growth, and maximize operational efficiency by leveraging Lummo’s SaaS solutions,” said Krishnan Menon, CEO and Founder of Lummo.
“Support of this scale underscores our belief that Indonesia and Southeast Asia are great destinations for technology investors,” he added.
Southeast Asia’s Internet sector continues to grow rapidly, with Indonesia as a key market. According to Google Temasek’s 2020 report, the gross merchandise value (GMV) – or total online purchases – of Southeast Asia’s internet economy will reach more than US$300 billion by 2025, with Indonesia estimated at US$124 billion from US$44 billion today. Unfortunately, digital and financial inclusion still suffer from disparities, which have been exacerbated by the pandemic. The participation of innovators and young startups is urgently needed to overcome this challenge, by utilizing their potential to help accelerate the country’s economic growth.
The D2C approach as Lummo’s competitive advantage has been recognized by various businesses and brand owners for having a sustainable impact on their business development. In addition, D2C solutions also open up more business potential for small and medium-sized businesses in the midst of challenging online business competition. Armed with in-depth experience of the market in Indonesia, Lummo is optimistic that it can create technological solutions that are able to solve business challenges faced by entrepreneurs.
Support Indonesian business players to grow by optimizing business operational efficiency through LummoSHOP
LummoSHOP, which is Lummo’s flagship product, provides access for business actors and brand owners to analyze and target customers to make purchases again through customer purchase records and history. Other features include chat commerce, catalog integration, custom domains and custom websites, multi-platform management, personalized features for business branding, and more. With multi-platform management features, businesses and brand owners can use this software solution as an online business operational center that allows them to manage all customer orders from various shopping platforms. This solution also helps them create an official website, as well as build their own brand identity.
Previously, before Lummo, Jeff Bezos also invested his money in Indonesia’s startup called Ula in October last year. Ula was founded in January 2020 and focuses on MSMEs and small retailers. They seek to organize distribution and supply chain processes for small businesses.
