The construction industry in Indonesia is large and growing rapidly, but much of the procurement is still done the old fashioned way, through phone calls and text messages. Juragan Material wants to make it easier with a B2B marketplace for building materials from selected suppliers.
The company announced today that it has raised $4 million in seed funding led by Go-Ventures, with participation from Susquehanna International Group (SIG).
The new capital will be used for hiring, increasing Juragan Materials’ market share and technology improvements.
Founded in 2021, the company’s marketplace currently has over 9,000 products and over 180 brands, including structural, architectural, mechanical and electrical products. It is intended for contractors and building owners and helps them to source materials more quickly.
Prior to starting Juragan Materials, Tito Putra, CEO and co-founder, was the general manager of a construction company.
All the other founders of the startup also have work experience in the construction industry. COO Graceila Putri was a product associate at Amazon and worked on growing a construction company. Marketing Director Ricky Fernando previously worked in marketing and relationships as Mortindo, a mortar producer, and Purchasing Director Meichael Surja was an architect and residential products contractor for more than 15 years.
Putra said it often takes days to source a single item, including the time spent checking with multiple vendors for prices and availability.
He also handled deliveries that could not be tracked and arrived late and offline payment and invoicing processes that were long and frustrating. This resulted in high working capital costs and potential losses due to excess inventory and excess or insufficient supply.
Juragan Materials was created to simplify the last leg of the construction industry supply chain.
“We recognized that construction is a huge market that is still very conventional and untapped by technology, resulting in a lot of inefficiencies in the industry,” Putra said.
Juragan Materials’ new capital will be used to improve its platform and launch more features, intensify its customer and supplier acquisitions, and improve its supporting infrastructure, particularly financing and logistics, Putra added.
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