[Funding alert] Indonesian Startup RaRa Delivery raises $3.25M from Sequoia's Surge and East Ventures

Indonesian instant delivery startup RaRa Delivery has announced that it has raised $3.25 million in funding led by Sequoia Capital India’s Surge and Indonesia’s East Ventures. Other participants included 500 Startups, Angel Central, GK Plug and Play, and angel investors Royston Tay and Yang Bin Kwok.

RaRa Delivery, with an India-based tech team, is a last-mile logistics company that is using its proprietary technology and data-driven approach to revolutionise one to three-hour deliveries for ecommerce.

The startup said it is on a mission to move all Indonesian deliveries to instant and same-day delivery. RaRa also aims to scale its India operations from 10 to 40 in the next six months. It is focusing on integrating its services into all major online marketplaces in Southeast Asia to allow any seller to offer instant and same day deliveries to their customers. 

RaRa Delivery is part of Surge’s fifth cohort of 23 companies that have developed new digital solutions to help companies and individuals live, work, and learn better in a rapidly evolving Southeast Asian landscape. 

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Karan Bhardwaj, Founder and CEO, RaRa Delivery, said:

“In this age of instant gratification, RaRa Delivery is revolutionising logistics by making it possible for anyone, anywhere, to get delivery in a few hours in Indonesia. While the express delivery space has been flourishing in sectors such as groceries and healthcare, we saw a unique opportunity to scale this offering across all categories, as customer expectations grow alongside the maturity of Indonesia's e-commerce sector.”

Founded in 2019, RaRa Delivery has developed proprietary, real-time batching technology to do ‘many-to-many’ deliveries within a few hours, hence bringing down the eventual cost of delivery for customers. At the same time, drivers are able to earn more money in fewer hours.

The company was started by Karan, who graduated from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, with a major in Engineering and a minor in Business and Entrepreneurship. Prior to founding RaRa Delivery, he was managing the end-to-end e-commerce supply chain at Unilever across Southeast Asia and Australasia. 

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The company stated when it comes to ecommerce in Indonesia, the challenge is building out the technology and infrastructure to solve for scalable, fast deliveries at the most optimal cost in such a large, populous country.

“Through our smart batching system and with our dedicated driver team, our vision of creating an ecosystem that allows ecommerce marketplaces and sellers to provide a premium customer experience to their end consumers is now becoming a reality, starting first in Indonesia. RaRa Delivery is proud to be working with the largest brands in Indonesia in this challenging yet exciting growth chapter,” added Karan.

The startup counts grocery players such as Sayurbox, as well as healthtech company Alodoktor as key customers and has been providing essential one to three hour delivery windows required for food and medical supplies in this crucial time of Indonesia’s fight against COVID-19.

RaRa claims it has been able to deliver three-hour deliveries by up to 20 percent cheaper due to the efficiencies of batching technology. It is also one of the few businesses in Indonesia to do real-time reconciliation of Cash on Delivery (COD) through the platform. The company has grown 15x over the past one year.

"RaRa Delivery has been our trusted delivery partner since the launch of Cerita Roti in November 2020. Today, partnering with RaRa has enabled us to serve good quality breads to our customers through Kopi Kenangan outlets in Jabodetabek. The speed and agility of their offering ensures we can continue to deliver on our promise of an exceptional customer experience. We look forward to scaling the business together with RaRa to all Kopi Kenangan outlets nationwide," said Jack Siah, VP, Kopi Kenangan.