Bukalapak Sets Strategies to Achieve Decacorn Status

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesian startup Bukalapak determined to step up its business to accomplish more achievements, such as decacorn status.

“Hopefully, [we can be a] decacorn this year,” said the e-commerce CEO Achmad Zaky during a gathering event with journalists in Jakarta, Thursday, June 27. Decacorn is a private startup with a valuation of US$10 billion or Rp141 trillion.

Zaky stopped short of detailing his company’s current valuation. In early 2019, the unicorn obtained a capital fund up to Rp706.6 billion from South Korean-based Mirae Asset-Naver Asia Growth.

He explained his company opened up an offline segment through Mitra Bukalapak, a partnership with small stores and businesses, in order to reach the next level.

Around 1 million stores in the country, he added, had joined the program and that the response was pretty positive because their store partners earned a higher income.

The online platform had invested Rp1 trillion for the offline program in 2019, including an expansion of warehouses and products supply for the stores.

Zaky claimed the decacorn status was not his main goal. He expected to create more business opportunity for small enterprises. “We want to open more employment,” he remarked.

In addition to the offline program, Bukalapak opened up a research center in Bandung in 2018 that focuses on artificial intelligence or AI development. “There are hundreds of researchers,” Zaky said.

ANTARA