B2B Market Ralali Looks to Raise $50M in Series D

Ralali, a B2B marketplace based in Indonesia, is looking to raise $50 million in a Series D funding round, Nikkei Asia reported Thursday (Sept. 2).

The company connects suppliers and wholesalers with micro, small- and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs). Ralali is talking with investors, according to CEO Joseph Aditya, per the report.

“We’re [working] on the fundraising and target to close it by the end of this year,” Aditya said in the report. “We want to be profitable before ultimately going public. We need more funding for growth.”

The company was valued at $98.6 million the last time a valuation was made, according to data from DealStreetAsia Data Vantage cited in the report.

Ralali raised $13 million in a Series C funding round in 2019, but last year shut down its India operations and divested part of the stake it had in Thailand due to the effects of the pandemic, the report stated.

Instead of primarily catering to mom-and-pop stores, like rivals Warung Pintar, Gudang Ada and Ula, Ralali is focused on a model similar to the Alibaba marketplace, which connects suppliers and wholesalers with buyers in several categories. Some of the categories include agriculture, automotive, building materials and more, according to the report.

Ralali boasted a user retention rate of around 60% before the pandemic, which has now instead been cut in half, with many smaller clients hit hardest by the pandemic, the report stated. The company also boasts around 10,000 active agents or offline partners helping to connect suppliers and buyers, although this number is heavily down from 300,000 before the pandemic.

In other Indonesia B2B news, Logisly, a logistics startup, raised $6 million in a Series A funding round in November. Logisly uses an algorithm to connect shippers with trucking companies. The shippers then get trucks equipped with real-time tracking capabilities and proof of delivery.

Read more: Indonesia’s Logistics Startup Logisly Raises $6M Series A