Here's Bakool! This Indonesian social commerce startup raised a multi-million dollar seed. They make it easy for people in rural Indonesia to buy fresh produce for low prices through group buying.

Investor check. Kleiner Perkins, Goodwater Capital, Insignia Ventures Partners and Global Brain joined in!

• 👼🏻: Mari Elka Pangestu (Indonesia's ex-Minister of Trade and ex-Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy).
• They're also part of Y Combinator's W22 batch.

🕰 The backstory

Founded in 2021, they started as a quick commerce startup called Radius that delivered to Tier-2 cities

But... In the last five months, they pivoted to what they are now.

• Quick deaths. There were several Indonesian quick commerce startups, but each shut down (Bananas, Dropezy, and now, Radius). The last one standing is Astro!

🧐 Who are they?

Bakool's a group-buying platform for people in Indonesia's Tier 2 and 3 cities to buy high-quality fresh produce at low prices.

The goal? Be the go-to "chain store" for fresh produce in rural Indonesia without any physical stores.

• The signs. While they were running Radius, as much as 80% of transactions were fresh goods.
• Customers save money from low prices and save time since they don't have to go to the market and will receive deliveries quickly (around the next day).

🥕 How it works

They have an agent network mostly made of homemakers and community leaders looking for extra income. These agents aggregate demand, input orders on the platform and receive the items the next day. Afterward, they deliver the items to customers.

• This allows these people to earn up to 3x their previous income for no risk since they don't need to shell out any initial capital to start working as an agent.

😱 So much social commerce

We know! There are many other Indonesian social commerce startups, but those focus more on FMCGs and groceries. Bakool's focus on fresh is what sets them apart!

• Handling fresh produce is totally different too. The distribution process mainly happens at night, and available supply chain networks in rural areas are limited!