Indonesian VCs Agaeti, Everhaus invest in capsule hotel startup Bobobox

Two local VC firms Agaeti Ventures and Everhaus participated in a pre-Series A funding round of Indonesian accommodation startup Bobobox.

They joined marquee venture capital fund Sequoia’s Surge accelerator programme to make the investment, according to the startup’s CEO. The startups existing backers Alpha JWC and Japan’s Genesia Ventures also participated in the round.

DEALSTREETASIA first reported about the development in March 2019, indicating the closing of Bobobox’ pre-Series A round. Bobobox secured an undisclosed amount in seed round a year ago from Alpha JWC and Genesia Ventures.

While the exact deal size of the current investment could not be ascertained, Surge revealed that it typically invests around $1.5 million in startups participating in its programme.

The Surge programme, launched in January 2019, targets startups in India and Southeast Asia across sectors such as consumer internet, technology, enterprise software, healthcare, fintech, among others. A 16-week programme, Surge recently selected its first cohort of 17 startups that included Indonesian insurtech startup Qoala, apart from Bobobox.

Based in Bandung, West Java, Bobobox offers travelers compact spaces – called ‘pods’ – at affordable prices. The startup currently has one flagship hotel in Bandung, containing 62 pods.

In an exclusive interaction with DEALSTREETASIA, Bobobox CEO Indra Gunawan said the capital raised will be used to expand its operations by opening up more flagship hotels in new cities.

At the moment, the company is in the process of setting up 70 additional pods in cities such as Jakarta, Jogja, Medan and Bandung.

By the end of 2019, Gunawan said the startup is targeting to have as many as 1,000 pods across different cities.

Original post by Ardi Wirdana on DealStreetAsia