Sequoia Capital India Advisors Pvt. Ltd, the domestic arm of the global venture capital firm, has led a $109 million (approximately Rs 823.23 crore at current exchange rates) Series B funding in Kopi Kenangan, an Indonesian beverage retailer.
Sequoia India managing director Shailendra Singh confirmed the investment in a tweet. Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin’s B Capital, Horizons Ventures, Verlinvest, Kunlun, Sofina and Alpha JWC Ventures also participated in the round.
As part of this transaction, Saverin will join Kopi Kenanan’s board of directors.
The Indonesian startup will use the funds to strengthen its business operations in its home market, launch new products, invest in its technological backend and extend protections for employees due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
This is the third time that Sequoia India has committed capital to Kopi Kenangan, according to VCCEdge, the data research arm of Mosaic Digital. In June last year, the coffee-focussed company raised $20 million from the VC firm. Then, in December, it raised an extension of its Series A round.
The extension round saw participation from Sequoia India, as well as Serena Williams’ Serena Ventures, Arrive, American basketball professional Caris LeVert and Jonathan Neman, the co-founder and CEO of the healthy food-focused Sweetgreen.
Kopi Kenangan began operations in 2017 and has been focusing on filling a gap between premium coffee chains and instant coffee brands. The company also employs an online-to-offline retail model, wherein customers place an order on an app and then go to one of the brand’s outlets to pick up their products.
This is the second reported bet by Sequoia’s India arm on an Indonesian startup in a month. In April, it participated in a $31 million (around Rs 236.35 crore) Series A funding round in Kargo Online System PT, which operates a freight logistics marketplace.
The domestic unit of the global VC firm is one of the most prominent early-stage investors in the country and the Southeast Asian region. It operates both a traditional VC unit and an accelerator (Surge) to invest in startups.
In October last year, Sequoia India marked the final close of its maiden seed fund. At the time, Shailendra Singh said the fund was already investing in startups that were part of the second cohort of Surge.
Some of Sequoia India’s domestic portfolio companies include Awfis, 1mg, education-technology firm Byju’s, DailyHunt, Meesho and Razorpay.
In recent months, its bets through Surge have increased. In March, Surge led a $4 million (around Rs 29.24 crore) pre-Series A funding round in Trell Experiences Pvt. Ltd., which runs a lifestyle community commerce platform.
In February, video production and editing platform InVideo raised $2.5 million (approximately Rs 17.90 crore) in a round led by Surge, with participation from angel investors Anand Chandrasekaran and Gokul Rajaram.
