SoftBank-backed logistics platform Waresix raises $100m

Indonesian logistics startup Waresix has closed its Series B round, revealing that it has raised a total of $100 million since the start of the year.

In a statement, it said the investment came from new backers including local conglomerate Emtek, SoftBank unit SoftBank Ventures Asia, Temasek affiliate Pavilion Capital, and US family office Redbadge Pacific.

Existing investors including Singapore-based Jungle Ventures and EV Growth — a Jakarta-based fund operated by East Ventures, Sinar Mas Digital Ventures, and Yahoo Japan — have also plowed money into the startup since the start of the year.

Waresix provides a suite of solutions covering land and sea transportation, freight forwarding, warehousing, and cold storage.

It operates a marketplace that connects customers with available trucks and warehouse space, matching supply with demand in close to real time. This allows the customers to get better prices, while enabling third-party logistics companies to make the most of idle assets. Waresix claims this platform achieves “50% higher truck utilization than traditional shippers.”

Its ecosystem currently covers over 40,000 trucks and 375 warehouses, across 100 cities on all of Indonesia’s main islands.

The startup has also been developing what it calls an “operating system-like” platform aimed at consumer brands and hauliers, that they’ll be able to use to manage their logistics operations more effectively.

Waresix said it serves over 250 “marquee corporate clients” from sectors such as fast-moving consumer goods, commodities, and retail. Among its more high-profile customers are major food, beverage, and packaging brands such as Unilever, Indofood, and Siam Cement Group.

CEO Andree Susanto said the Series B funding will be used to create “the most robust logistics technology infrastructure in Southeast Asia, and further build out our world-class team to help us seize a large market opportunity.”

Waresix’s last reported funding was an $11 million Series A add-on from EV Growth and Jungle Ventures in January. Prior to that, it netted $14.5 million tktk

Other startups looking to optimize logistics for food and consumer goods in Indonesia include Y Combinator-backed Shipper — which raised Series A funding from South African internet giant Naspers and other investors in June — and Kargo Technologies.

Kargo secured an undisclosed amount of investment from Amatil X, the corporate innovation and venture capital arm of Coca-Cola bottler Coca-Cola Amatil, in March. Its earlier investors include Sequoia Capital and 10100 Fund, the VC firm launched by Uber co-founder and former CEO Travis Kalanick.

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