Jeff Bezos-backed Indonesian startup Ula rakes in US$23.1M from Tiger Global, Flipkart co-founder

Published on November 26, 2021

Photo Credits: Ula

Original post by e27

Ula, a B2B e-commerce marketplace in Indonesia, has secured an additional US$23.1 million in funding from Tiger Global and Flipkart co-founder Binny Bansal to close its ongoing Series B investment round at US$110 million.

This fresh funds infusion follows its US$87 million announced in October in a round co-led by Prosus Ventures, Tencent, and B-Capital. Jeff Bezos’s Bezos Expeditions, Northstar group, AC Ventures, and Citius also participated.

This round brings the overall funding raised by Ula since its inception to US$140.6 million.

With the Series B capital, Ula will continue to invest in geographic, product, and team expansion, with a particular focus on supporting underserved retailer communities through technology in tier 2-4 cities.

This includes expanding a buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) offering, empowering small business owners to sell within their communities, and incorporating advanced technology such as artificial intelligence to support retailers in improving business management.

Ula was founded in January 2020 by Nipun Mehra, Alan Wong, Derry Sakti, and Riky Tenggara — a team of experienced e-commerce and FMCG professionals from Indonesia, India, and the US with decades of experience spanning Amazon, Flipkart, Lazada, P&G, and Booking.com.

It is a horizontal multi-category wholesale e-commerce marketplace that combines modern retail technology, tools, and skills with the lean cost structure of traditional micro-retail. According to Ula, this brings the best in the selection, prices, and working capital to small store owners to increase their overall income.

The company claims it has grown 230x since its launch, currently offering over 6,000 products and serving more than 70,000 traditional retail stores on its platform.

Ula previously raised a US$10.5 million seed round in June 2020 and an additional US$20 million Series A in January 2021.

Listen more to Ula’s success story here.