The Astro team
Astro, an on-demand quick e-commerce platform for groceries and other daily essentials in Indonesia, has secured US$27 million in Series A financing led by Accel Partners and Sequoia Capital India.
Existing investors AC Ventures, Global Founders Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Goodwater Capital joined. Founders and senior executives from Traveloka, Ajaib, Meesho, OYO, Swiggy, Udaan also participated in the round.
The startup will use the funds to expand its reach, serve more customers across Indonesia, and scale the team size by 3x in 2022.
In Indonesia, while groceries is one of the biggest retail sectors, the digital penetration is one of the lowest (~0.4 per cent) compared to the 10 per cent penetration of e-commerce. With the pandemic driving digital adoption, the opportunity is large with e-grocery in Indonesia and is poised to become a ~US$6 billion opportunity by 20251.
Also Read: Ex-Tokopedia AVP’s Astro attracts US$4.5M to expand ’15-min e-commerce delivery’ service in Jakarta
Recognising this and the opportunity to create value for millions of Indonesians, Vincent Tjendra, former Associate VP at Tokopedia, founded Astro in September 2021 to deliver groceries and essentials such as snacks, drinks, milk and bread to customers within 15 minutes of placing the order. The firm offers 1,500-plus SKUs at competitive prices available 24×7 on its app.
Since the launch, Astro has established over 15 hubs across Jakarta and aims to expand this network to cater to millions of Indonesians.
“There are some irrefutable truths in e-commerce, and one of them is that consumers will always want faster delivery, better selection and value pricing. The quick commerce model sits at the pinnacle of such consumer demand. With growing affluence, the Indonesian market is reaching an inflexion point in e-grocery and other consumer categories, opening up a large market opportunity,” Aakash Kapoor, VP, Sequoia India.
The company previously raised US$4.5 million in seed funding from GFC, AC Ventures, Lightspeed, and Goodwater Capital.
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