Key Highlights:
- Ula announced in a statement that the company has secured $87 million in its Series B fundraising round.
- According to sources, Amazon’s founder has invested in the one-and-a-half-year-old startup’s latest fundraising round.
- Ula assists small merchants in resolving supply chain, inventory, and working capital issues.
Ula secures $87 million
Ula announced in a statement that the company has secured $87 million in its Series B fundraising round. According to reports, the round was co-led by Prosus Ventures, Tencent, and B Capital. Jeff Bezos contributed to the new round.
“We launched in 2020, with a single-minded mission to empower small, neighborhood retailers with technology to increase their income. We take a long-term approach to solve the underlying problems of traditional retailers by investing in technology, supply chain, and data-enabled credit offering,” said Nipun Mehra, co-founder, and chief executive of Ula, in a statement.
“Ula’s new investors come with global expertise and share this long-term mindset of the company. We are grateful to them for believing in Ula’s mission and hope to learn from their experience re-imagining retail in other emerging markets” he added.
Jeff Bezos agrees to fund Ula
Ula, an Indonesian e-commerce firm that has raised over $30 million and courted numerous high-profile investors since its inception last year, has now gained the trust of the world’s wealthiest individual.
According to sources, Amazon’s founder has invested in the one-and-a-half-year-old startup’s latest fundraising round.
The Jakarta-based business, which has previous investors such as B Capital Group, Sequoia Capital India, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Quona Capital, is in the final stages of finalizing a fresh round of over $80 million.
According to sources who requested anonymity since the subject is confidential, Jeff Bezos has agreed to invest in Ula through his family office, Bezos Expeditions. B Capital Group, Tencent, and Prosus Ventures are preparing to co-lead the investment, which may complete this month.
Bezos’ interest in Ula, which offers a business-to-business e-commerce platform, comes at a time when Amazon has either not entered or has a limited footprint in most Southeast Asian countries.
What does Ula do?
Ula assists small merchants in resolving supply chain, inventory, and working capital issues. It provides a wholesale e-commerce platform to assist store owners in stocking only the merchandise they require, as well as providing working cash. Nipun Mehra (a former executive of Flipkart in India and ex-partner at Sequoia Capital India), Alan Wong (who previously worked for Amazon), Derry Sakti (who led consumer goods major P&G’s operations in Indonesia), and Riky Tenggara created the business (formerly with Lazada and aCommerce).
