Indonesia‘s UENA has opened seven kitchen locations in Jakarta and has served more than 300,000 portions since its establishment.
Heaptalk, Jakarta — A hyperlocal online Food and Beverage (F&B) startup based in Indonesia, UENA, has seized an undisclosed amount of new funding, led by UENA’s existing investor, East Ventures, and Trihill Capital as the new investor.
This new round, completed in Q1 2023, amplifies the startup balance sheet after the previous seed round raised in September last year. This F&B startup will use the fresh capital to expand its locations and services to reach more users and customers.
UENA perceives the problem where the daily food segment in Indonesia is a US$90 billion market annually but almost entirely served by unorganized street-side vendors. This matter causes customer pain related to high fragmentation, particularly in quality, reliability, and price. This startup aims to solve this problem by serving quality food and leverages the power of technology and economy of scale to increase quality while decreasing the cost concurrently.
UENA’s Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Alvin Arief, voiced, “After implementation and execution of our idea, we feel fortunate to see the validation we receive from the market. Most of our orders come from repeat customers, and their orders continue to increase monthly. Even though we have only been operating for less than one year, the mature stores are already break-even and getting a healthy payback period. The fund adds our confidence to continue capturing the great opportunity ahead,”
Founded by Alvin Arief, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, and Roy Yohanes, Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer, in August 2022, Indonesia’s UENA has opened seven kitchen locations in Jakarta and served more than 300,000 portions. Customers can order from UENA directly through the mobile app or by contacting UENA’s WhatsApp number.
“We are glad to double down our investment in UENA. We believe in the problem and solution that was presented by Alvin and Roy when we first invested. After a couple of months, the idea turned into an absolute conviction with the real feedback received from the market. We are excited to continue our support of UENA and partake in the disruption of the daily food industry in Indonesia,”
Since its inception, this F&B startup does not rely on food delivery aggregators since more than 80% of its orders come through direct channels. Each kitchen only serves a hyperlocal radius of 1 – 1.5 km and handles delivery internally to minimize delivery costs and processes. A typical order will arrive 15 minutes after a customer orders.
“Daily food segment is fascinating with few menu selections because people keep returning to the same basic staple menus. This matter can lead to a very high volume of each item where we can maximize the operation streamline and procurement in bulk,” Co-Founder Roy Yohanes, Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer of UENA.
This startup is gearing up for expansion and duplication in Jakarta. Each kitchen requires low capital, fast set-up, and flexibility to use a wide range of available spaces. UENA will also continue to add more menus to increase customer repeat orders at multiple meal times each day and numerous days throughout the week.
Moreover, according to the VP at Investment of Trihill Capital, Ian Sulaiman, Indonesia predominantly comprises the middle-class group. A growing segment of this group is the aspiring middle class, estimated to represent 45% of the population, who only have monthly spending of US$36 – US$80.
Sulaiman also added, “They also have difficulties in accessing affordable and nutritious food, especially when available options tend to compromise food safety and hygiene. For this reason, we back UENA’s efforts in improving the affordability, availability, and accessibility to daily good food options for many middle-class people in Indonesia.”
