Tokopedia Acquires Bridestory, Parentstory in Latest Expansion Push

Indonesia’s largest e-commerce platform Tokopedia has acquired Bridestory, a wedding vendor marketplace, and Parentstory, a membership-based marketplace for children activities, for an undisclosed sum as part of its expansion.

“As a technology company, in the first ten years Tokopedia has been dedicated to helping business owners create e-commerce businesses,” William Tanuwijaya, the co-founder and chief executive of Tokopedia, said in a statement.

“For the next ten years, Tokopedia will strive to help every business in Indonesia evolve into technology-based businesses,” William said.

Bridestory has catered to 3.5 million brides with 20,000 service providers – ranging from photographers and wedding organizers to pastry bakers and venue owners – since its launch in 2014. Bridestory also organizes the annual Bridestory Market, the largest wedding exhibition in Southeast Asia, William said.

Last year, Bridestory launched Parentstory to help parents find fun activities for their kids.

Tokopedia has acquired all assets belonging to Bridestory and Parentstory, including physical and digital assets, intellectual property and human resources, but will allow the companies to operate independently.

Kevin Mintaraga, the founder and chief executive of Bridestory, will join Tokopedia as vice president, while another co-founder, Doni Hanafi, will take on the chief operating officer role at Bridestory.

“We warmly welcome the new synergy between Bridestory, Parentstory and Tokopedia. We believe this partnership will amplify and strengthen each company in realizing their mission,” Kevin said.

Tokopedia last year secured $1.1 billion in a funding round led by Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding and Japan’s SoftBank Group that put its valuation past $10 billion.

Original post by Jakarta Globe