ESB, Indonesia’s largest restaurant management SaaS, locks in US$29M
Published on August 29, 2022
ESB, Indonesia’s largest fully-integrated restaurant management SaaS platform, announced earlier today that it raised a US$29 million series B funding round led by Northstar Group and Alpha JWC Ventures, with participation from existing investors AC Ventures, BEENEXT, and Vulcan Capital. Prior to the deal, ESB had raised a total of US$10.6 million.
ESB is an all-in-one provider of culinary business operations software. It offers a cloud-based SaaS solution that includes a front-end order-taking app, a point-of-sales system, kitchen operations software, and a back-end enterprise resource planning system.
Through ESB, F&B merchants also gain access to an ecosystem of third-party providers for ingredient supplies, food delivery, and digital payments.
Co-founded in 2018 by Gunawan Woen, Eka Prasetya, Setiadi Prawiryo Moeljadi, and Dwi Prawira, ESB’s mission is to help F&B businesses enhance their profitability by using tech to augment sales and improve operational efficiency.
Drawing on decades of experience in F&B operations and supply chain, ESB’s co-founders have created a unique cloud-based solution to replace multiple traditional hardware systems.
With the fresh funding, ESB will further expand its footprint in the SME market. Its value proposition to SMEs includes many things. It offers simplified payment solutions, working capital facilities, and expanded productivity features that will help SMEs increase their sales. It also provides order and delivery channel management solutions, accounting capabilities, supply chain management, and a human resources information system.
All these things combined will enhance the startup’s position as an end-to-end F&B business operating platform.
ESB is a tool for the fast-growing F&B industry
Worldwide, the pandemic pushed F&B merchants to adopt leaner operations. This meant exploring new sales channels, while key stakeholders along the F&B value chain, ranging from customers to ingredient suppliers, rapidly adopted digital solutions.
Additionally, rising costs due to commodity price inflation in early 2022 have spurred F&B merchants to further optimize their cost structures. In turn, this has led to higher adoption of productivity tools that allow for end-consumer self-service, internal workflow automation, and food waste reduction. The startup is well-primed to tap into these trends.
“We see F&B merchants, whether they’re big companies or SMEs, as our equal partners. As a partner, we are committed to supporting our merchants, to helping them generate more sales and increase their efficiencies. In the end, this will help them increase their profit. By achieving that, we can ensure their sustainability, bankability, and growth. When our partners grow, ESB grows, that’s how I see it,” said Gunawan Woen, the company’s co-founder and CEO. “I am also proud to welcome Northstar Group as the new shareholder in this round and appreciate the continuous support from our existing shareholders AC Ventures, Alpha JWC Ventures, BEENEXT, and Vulcan Capital for their continued confidence in us.”
“Besides superior product offerings, our other mission is accessibility. We believe that all sizes of businesses deserve to have good support. That’s why we are expanding our services to fit not only large, established F&B groups, but also small and medium businesses with adjustable and affordable fee structures. We want to grow together with our fellow stakeholders because only through that we can achieve greatness,” said Eka Prasetya, co-founder and COO of ESB.
“We have been tracking ESB’s journey and are delighted to see such a mature product and developed go-to-market strategy emerging out of this region. ESB has performed well, even against better capitalized global competitors, in winning over and onboarding international F&B brands in Indonesia. ESB is now rolling out another SaaS product empowering F&B SMEs, and we are excited to partner with Gunawan and his team to help scale ESB’s solution to the rest of Southeast Asia and beyond,” said Carlson Lau, managing director of Northstar Group.
“ESB continues to achieve greater and exciting milestones since our investment a year ago. It has significantly expanded its pool of F&B brands, covering businesses of any size and complexity, whilst also increasing its end-to-end solutions for existing customers. All these are attributed to the tech solutions and tenacity of the team to forge ahead. We are excited to continue this partnership with Gunawan and his team to crystallize ESB’s next evolution together,” said Eko Kurniadi, partner at Alpha JWC Ventures.
“ESB’s technology platform has delivered a unique, cloud-based, end-to-end F&B solution to help restaurants reduce costs, manage their operations, and scale online delivery. Their platform is set to revolutionize Indonesia’s multi-billion dollar dine-in and takeaway market,” says Adrian Li, founder and managing partner of AC Ventures.
“ESB has empowered thousands of restaurants in Indonesia during the pandemic and they have become a platform of choice to improve restaurants’ operations and performance. The founding team has shown superb execution and resilience which led them to grow even faster and ride on the growth momentum since last year. We are excited to be in the journey and this long-term partnership with ESB,” said Faiz Rahman partner at BEENEXT.
