Indonesian social commerce solutions provider "Desty" closes Pre-A funding round led by 5Y Capital | 5Y News
Indonesia's leading social commerce tool.
Social commerce startup Desty, headquartered in Jakarta, Indonesia, has raised $3.2 million in a Pre-A round led by 5Y Capital, with participation from Fosun RZ Capital, YD Capital, January Capital, and East Ventures.
Haichuan Hu, vice president at 5Y Capital, said: "The essence of the internet is connection. Infrastructure-level internet giants connect people with people, online with offline, and demand with supply. In e-commerce, linking content, social interaction, and commerce represents a massive opportunity. In China, the deep integration of short video and e-commerce has generated tremendous value and impact. In Southeast Asia, where the dynamics of people, goods, and venues are rapidly evolving, we believe Desty has the potential to become new infrastructure within the e-commerce ecosystem — helping to make connections between social, content, and commerce richer, tighter, and more efficient."
Founded in October 2020, Desty provides KOLs, e-commerce sellers, and brands across Indonesia with tools for online presence, including personalized marketing pages (Desty Page) and online storefronts (Desty Store). Users can create a clickable landing page URL and set up their own independent online store within minutes, for free.
Desty's team comprises senior e-commerce executives from Indonesia and China, with experience at leading tech companies including Alibaba, Facebook, Google, JD.com, and Canva. Its products have quickly grown into one of Indonesia's leading social commerce tools, with hundreds of thousands of users.
Desty co-founder and CEO Mulyono Xu said: "Our team brings over 15 years of experience in digital merchant operations, and we believe Desty will be a key force in Indonesia's continued e-commerce growth. The market keeps evolving, and we're confident we can keep delivering quality services to our users. We remain focused on helping online merchants and users across the ecosystem grow their businesses effectively."
Desty currently offers two main products: Desty Page and Desty Store. Desty Page is a landing page service optimized for social media profile links, particularly on Instagram.
Desty Store helps sellers launch online shops and build their own e-commerce platforms, where buyers can place orders and make payments online, with order and logistics tracking available through a backend dashboard. Similar to Shopify but tailored more closely to Southeast Asian user needs, Desty Store also partners with more local e-commerce ecosystem players to serve its users. The team hopes Desty can empower promising sellers still in the early stages of e-commerce development, helping them better market their content, products, and services through social channels and improve traffic conversion.
Desty has earned the trust of numerous customers through its products. For example, an Indonesian A-list singer with 21 million Instagram followers uses Desty to host her beauty brand Purnama Beauty, significantly improving the brand's retail and distributor sales efficiency.
On the Indonesian market where the company got its start, co-founder Wei Wang sees the country — Southeast Asia's largest by population — as having outsized influence: "Indonesia itself is at the cusp of rapid growth. Local manufacturing is also developing, which is really a foundational condition for domestic economic growth. Going forward, Indonesia could develop even stronger supply chain and production capabilities, potentially radiating out to other countries as well."
Mulyono noted that in Indonesia's fast-changing e-commerce market, merchants need easier ways to manage multiple online channels. Desty offers a solution that lets each channel complement rather than compete with one another, making businesses more sustainable in the long run.
5Y Capital (formerly Morningside Venture Capital) currently manages approximately $5 billion across USD and RMB dual-currency funds. We believe the world would be a better place if those who seem crazy in others' eyes begin to be believed.
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