The Indonesia-based on-demand specialty coffee aims to open 100 more outlets by the end of June 2019

Fore Coffee, Indonesia’s on-demand specialty coffee startup, raises an additional US$1 million in its Series A funding, rounding it up to US$9.5 million recorded in January.

The additional funding is an extended sum from its original US$8.5 million round initially closed that month led by East Ventures, and joined by SMDV, Pavilion Capital, Agaeti Venture Capital, and several angel investors.

With the funding, Fore Coffee said it has already doubled the outlet growth from 19 outlets to 35 outlets across Jakarta within two months.

Fore Coffee also managed to promote its app and recorded more than 500,000 downloads.
Fore Coffee was founded in August 2018 by Robin Boe and Elisa Suteja with the online-to-offline e-commerce approach. Fore Coffee is the brainchild of venture capital firm East Ventures’ hypothesis on new consumption trend in Indonesia and leveraging the convenience and fast lifestyles among Indonesian millennials.

“Data drives customization, which in turn drives new experiences designed for consumers. Coupled with Indonesia-optimized digital infrastructure, consumer product distribution and touch points can develop in a very robust environment,” said Willson Cuaca, Managing Partner of East Ventures.

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Fore Coffee creates an ordering process on the app and integrates it with existing payment platforms like OVO and Go-Pay. Fore Coffee claims it is able to shorten the time it takes to get a cup of coffee as well as keep costs down, fulfilling the needs to consume coffee at a low cost but in high speed.

“With Fore Coffee, the inconvenience is removed completely, and people can get on with doing other, more productive things – and then the next thing you know, there’s a coffee in your hand, ready to keep you going,” said co-founder and CEO, Robin Boe.

Fore Coffee also highlighted its effects on the lives of coffee farmers with its continuous purchase on coffee-6.5 tonnes each month. The company claims that the number roughly translates to 137 hectares of coffee plantation land area being productively cultivated by 600 farmers in the archipelago each year.

The company said that its platform currently serves 10,000 cups of coffee a day, with 85 per cent of the cups being ordered through the app and delivered to customers.
Since the launch of its mobile app in the second week of December 2018, the startup has grown from serving 19,000 monthly cups of coffee to 300,000 today.

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Now, Fore Coffee has grown from 90 employees to a staff of 200, half of them baristas. Fore Coffee’s next foray will be the multiplication to 100 outlets by the end of June 2019.
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Image Credit: Fore Coffee

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Source: E27