E-retailer Saqina raises funds from Ideosource to strengthen e-commerce offerings
Indonesian online retail store Saqina has raised funds from Ideosource to strengthen its e-commerce business.
Following the recent investment into Gimmie , Ideosource has closed another lucrative deal, this time with Saqina , an e-commerce player selling Muslim apparel and fashion clothing. No terms and sums were disclosed, but like any similar deals, the VC firm will sit as minority shareholder and entitled to place their representative in the board of Ideosource.
Mohammad Rosihan founded his business 10 years ago, and decided to venture into an online store by 2008. Rosihan’s background in IT has helped Saqina gain traction in the e-commerce space. However, he realized that the eight physical outlets he owns only contribute 35% of total revenue, while his online store accounts for the rest. The Jombang-born entrepreneur decided to loan the money from a bank and started to advertise his products. His choice went to magazines, Facebook, search engines and online news portals.
Saqina Landing Page
Local news portal Kompas.com reports that the founder made a big move by closing down four of his own stores, having successfully generated enough traffic and revenue from his online store. He then focused on optimizing Saqina for search marketing.
Saqina offers the latest in Muslim fashion, offering apparel that ranges from daily, semi-formal, and formal apparels, to party gowns such as hijab, veil, skirt, pants, blouse, gamis, and accessories.
The fund will accelerate the company’s growth and strengthen their market share in Indonesia. On top of that, Saqina will also need Ideosource’s experience, knowledge and network to take them to a higher level. “In-depth understanding of market behavior, marketing strategy, operational excellence, and customer services are our strength in which we always try to improve from time to time,” Rosihan said in a statement. Today, Saqina is staffed by 20 employees – four of them are in customer service department.
Meanwhile, from the venture capital perspective, Andi S. Boediman admitted that e-commerce for fashion, and particularly Muslim apparel, is a very huge market in Indonesia. “We saw that Saqina.com has been doing great so far, and they have also huge potential to grow.”
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