Surplus Journey and Broom Raises Funding After Participating in the Startup Studio Indonesia Program

Liputan6.com, Jakarta – The Indonesian Startup Studio Program (SSI), which is routinely held twice a year by the Ministry of Communication and Informatics (Kominfo), has officially entered its 6th Batch.

SSI noted that alumni who have succeeded in obtaining early-stage funding after graduating from this program range from 13-40% in each batch. As of December 2022, the total funding that has flowed to SSI startup alumni has reached IDR 392.1 billion.

One of the SSI alumni who has grown rapidly after participating in this startup incubation or training program is Surplus Indonesia.

Surplus is a startup that cares about the environment that is here as a solution to dealing with the amount of food waste in Indonesia.

In collaboration with business actors (such as restaurants, hotels, cafes), Surplus Indonesia sells surplus food stocks that are still of high quality, safe and suitable for consumption, at 50% more affordable prices through the first food rescue application in Indonesia.

As an alumni of Startup Studio Indonesia Batch 4, earlier this year Surplus received initial funding from Salam Pacific Indonesia Lines (SPIL) Ventures.

Its operating range is also expanding, namely reaching Jabodetabek, Bandung, Yogyakarta, Surabaya, Malang and Bali, with a total of 10,000 active application users.

Focus on Merchant Customer Acquisition

This year, Surplus will focus its business on increasing merchant customer acquisition in Java and Bali.

Co-founder & CEO of Surplus Indonesia, Muh. Agung Saputra, said that the startup he founded initially prioritized organic marketing through the community or word of mouth, while the company’s budget was allocated more to HR.

“After running for some time and starting to scale up, then we focus on intensifying marketing,” he said, quoted Thursday (27/4/2023).

“Our decision to take part in the SSI Batch 4 program also greatly influenced the marketing side of Surplus Indonesia, one of which was because we got exposure from various news and social media content carried out by SSI,” Agung concluded.

In addition to helping improve the company’s reputation, Agung admitted that the SSI program opened the way for companies to expand their networking, especially with experienced startup players and those who are both starting out in the early stages.