Conglomerate Chairul Tanjung Together With Bukalapak And Growtheum Reportedly Disburse IDR 1 Trillion To Build "AlloFresh" Online Supermarket

Conglomerate Chairul Tanjung. (Photo: Doc. Forbes)

JAKARTA - Conglomerate Chairul Tanjung through CT Corp is reported to be synergizing with online shopping service company PT Bukalapak.com to open online shopping for fresh ingredients and wholesalers. This collaboration is carried out as an effort to take advantage of e-commerce services that are on the rise.

According to a Bloomberg source, quoted on Tuesday, March 1, CT Corp's supermarket unit, PT Trans Retail Indonesia, and Bukalapak are cooperating with private company Growtheum Capital Partners.

The three big companies will invest IDR 1 trillion to build AlloFresh. Later, Trans Retail will be the owner of 55 percent of the shares, Bukalapak 35 percent, and Growtheum 10 percent.

This collaboration opens up new revenue streams for Trans Retail and also for Bukalapak. One of the largest e-commerce sites in the country since its IPO, it has lost more than half its value since gaining US$1.5 billion in Indonesia's largest public offering last year.

AlloFresh is considered to have a great opportunity to see Indonesia become one of the largest markets in the booming digital economy in Southeast Asia, where e-commerce is attracting tens of millions of new users online. In the AlloFresh platform, customers will be able to order groceries using the application and website by scanning goods in physical stores.

The ordered goods will be packaged and shipped using online transportation, in collaboration with AlloFresh's business partner, Grab Holdings Ltd. There will be around 10 million stores in Bukalapak that will also serve food orders from AlloFresh.

Meanwhile, until now there has been no direct comment from Bukalapak and Growtheum regarding this matter. This collaboration between the three tycoon companies is not the first time, where Bukalapak and Growtheum were previously included in the teachings of companies participating in the rights issue of Chairul Tanjung's PT Allo Bank Indonesia.