The venture combines the retail experience of Trans Retail Indonesia with the technology of Bukalapak and additional funding from Southeast Asian private equity firm Growtheum Capital Partners, according to a press release issued by the three companies on Tuesday.

AlloFresh will commence the business with initial funding of Rp 1 trillion (US$69.44 million), offering products from around 10,000 suppliers with three-hour and quick-commerce delivery options across Indonesia, the release states.

While Trans Retail Indonesia has an extensive product range and more than 25 years of experience working with suppliers and manufacturers of food and household products, Bukalapak runs an online retail platform and app.

“We are continuously innovating to give customers what they want, looking ahead into the future and leading the change in consumption patterns and the need to provide an omni-channel offline-and-online experience to our shoppers,” said CT Corp chairman Chairul.

“By partnering with a technology player with deep understanding of online user behavior and a financial investor that knows the market intimately, we are optimistic about the future together, especially as bigger chunks of the market move online over the coming decade,” he added.

Trans Retail Indonesia president director and CEO Bouzeneth Benaouda explained in the same press release: “We believe the operational and financial synergies between Trans Retail Indonesia, Bukalapak and Growtheum are compelling. The collaboration brings together a combination of expertise inherent within each party, from sourcing to distribution, technology and financing.”

He expressed confidence that AlloFresh could become the “leading player” in the grocery delivery segment, which includes established players like HappyFresh and relative newcomers Pasarnow and Segari.

Start-ups in the business have received significant venture capital funding in recent years, and part of their growth has been attributed to rising demand during the pandemic as customers sought to avoid shopping trips.

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“The collaboration will further enhance Bukalapak’s leadership in online-to-offline [O2O] offering and expand the touchpoints into a broader range of customers. This initiative will also expand Bukalapak’s reach into the retail ecosystem as part of the company’s expansion from general to specialty platforms,” said Bukalapak CEO Willix Halim.

“We’re leveraging the expertise and infrastructure of [the three companies] through this collaboration,” Bukalapak president director Teddy Nuryanto Oetomo said in the AlloFresh launch ceremony on Wednesday.

Trans Retail, Bukalapak and Growtheum hold stakes of 55 percent, 35 percent and 10 percent stakes, respectively, in AlloFresh, Teddy explained, without specifying the investment required to establish the platform.

Olivier Legrand from Growtheum Capital Partners alluded to ample growth potential, noting that, amid a “significant increase in e-commerce activity”, little of that had been in the online grocery market, “which makes up less than 2 percent of Indonesia’s total grocery retail spend, compared with 14 percent in South Korea, 11 percent in China and 10 percent in Japan. This is remarkably low, as groceries account for 50 percent of all retail spend in Southeast Asia.”

He added that he was “thrilled to be involved in this journey” as an incoming independent commissioner of PT AlloFresh.