Updates: The article has been updated to include information about co-founder Lingga Madu’s departure.

Indonesia’s fashion e-commerce platform Sorabel is confirmed to be shutting down by the end of this month, joining the list of startups that were forced to end their operations due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In an internal email to its employees (a copy of which is in the possession of DailySocial), Sorabel explained that it did its best to save the business, but had had to go through liquidation.

The liquidation process includes the disbandment of the organisation by a liquidator followed by debt collection and asset distributions to claimants.

“Due to this liquidation process, we have to terminate employment contracts with no exception, effective July 30. I am certain that no one would ever expect this to happen,” the letter stated.

The management stated its commitment to ensuring that all employees’ rights are being fulfilled during the process, including religious holiday support. It is also committed to abiding by all the regulations and decisions of the liquidators.

Also Read: How Sorabel was able to push for growth after rebranding

Employees are expected to return the assets of the company, which will be resold and processed by liquidators. The management also promised to help them find a new job from the investors’ network of more than 100 companies.

“This might be the end of our journey with Sorabel. I hope that we can keep the good memories that we have had together in this place … The company expresses its deepest gratitude to you for fighting until the very end,” read the letter .

Before this development, Sorabel had announced in February on social media the shutdown of its Philippines unit, Yabel.

The journey of Sorabel

The company was started in 2014 as Sale Stock before rebranding itself to Sorabel. Throughout its journey, it introduced several innovations, including the ‘try-first-pay-later’ feature.

The firm had also laid off around 200 of its employees in 2016. Despite this, it successfully closed a Series B+ funding round, led by Meranti ASEAN Growth Fund.

Sorabel Co-founder Lingga Madu once stated that its business model was the healthiest when compared to other e-commerce platforms in Indonesia.

In 2018, Madu claimed the company had achieved break-even and was ready to make a profit. Back then, he compared Sorabel’s unit economics to that of global fashion e-commerce players such as Asos and Revolve.

Also Read: Indonesian fashion e-commerce site Sale Stock changes its name to Sorabel

Sorabel became more aggressive following the rebranding in the beginning of last year. It began its expansion to realise its ambition to provide “quality and affordable fashion items” for the “next billion users.”

Yabel had even announced plans to expand to the Middle East.

In its final interview with DailySocial, Sorabel announced that it was closing a Series C funding round from investors, including Kejora Ventures, Ncore Ventures, OpenSpace, Shift, Gobi Partners, MNC Media Investment, SMDV, Golden Equator Capital, and Convergence Ventures.

In a message to e27, Madu stated that he and co-founder Ariza Novianti had left the company in October 2019.

He declined to comment on the liquidation of the company.

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The article Sorabel Tutup Operasional Akhir Juli 2020 was written in Bahasa Indonesia by Marsya Nabila for DailySocial. English translation and editing by e27.

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