Smart Kiosks, Literally, in the Streets of Jakarta
Warung Pintar is a micro retail technology company based in Indonesia which was founded in October of 2017 and has been blooming since its creation. In just one year, Warung Pintar has grown from just 12 carts to 1,150 — and by subsidizing their tech-enabled carts, they are looking toward monetizing them down the road. However, the competition is stiff in Indonesia — competitor Bukalapak recently also just raised fifty million dollars to expand services and offerings to street vendors. To differentiate itself from the central hub of Jakarta operations, however, Warung Pintar has already begun moving outward with its offerings — recently beginning cart renovations in Banyuwangi, East Java.
In January, Warung Pintar announced a partnership with Grab, Southeast Asia’s leading online-to-offline mobile platform with the goal of eradicating poverty and promoting equality by “empowering the grassroots community in Indonesia to move into the digital economy.” Providing access to safe and affordable transport, food and package delivery, mobile payments and financial services, Grab will likely also aid in the global expansion of Warung Pintar operations, as it currently offers services in Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar and Cambodia.
When we last touched base with the project in August of 2018, Warung Pintar had just sold under two hundred of its high-tech street kiosks and had raised just four million dollars in one of its first seed rounds. Ever-expanding with many goals toward further expansion set for the future, Digital Garage is a proud investor in one of the many companies looking to revolutionize mom and pop vendor operations across the seas. Digitizing convenience transactions have been a mainstay in retail outlets and developed brands, but for those who have no industrial business experience, Warung Pintar has the solution — upgrades that are easy and functional for the daily hustle and bustle that the thousands of small and large street vendors experience almost every day of the year.
