Base Secured Seed Funding Led by East Ventures and Skystar Capital

JAKARTA, 09 September 2019 — Base, Indonesia’s 6-month-old personalized direct-to-consumer (DTC) beauty and wellness company, announced earlier today that it has secured an undisclosed amount of seed funding led by East Ventures and Skystar Capital. This fresh investment will fuel Base mission to accelerate the growth of its consumers and recruit more talent.

The beauty sector is piping hot, supported by the growth of beauty communities and the rise of wellness trend that is driving people to have better skin. Indonesia’s beauty industry itself is valued at approximately USD 3Bn today with skincare category grew positively at 9% in 2018 compared to the other categories such as cosmetics. Yet, the majority of key players in the local market are still global brands with none addressing the diverse skin needs of Indonesian women.

Yaumi Fauziah Sugiharta, former GO-JEK Head of Marketing turn Co-Founder and CEO of Base, runs her own skincare blog in 2017 and actively engaged with the community on her social media account. That time, she received a lot of queries from young women across the nation on how to choose the right skincare product for their skin and realized there was a real challenge in it.

“After conducting an internal survey, 72% of women in the country explained how they are overwhelmed with the wide range of skincare options. Furthermore, most products in the market are not specifically built for women in a tropical country like Indonesia and only cater to certain beauty standards such as whitening skin. We believe that every woman shall have the liberation to define their own beauty and have their own unique way to get their skin goal. Base was born to remove the burden of choice, by simplifying the product discovery process and get your personalized products using the technology. Our consumers or ​Base Friends ​can get a high-quality, vegan personalized formulation of beauty and wellness product directly from Base website.” Yaumi explains about the platform.

Along with her Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer, a biochemist turned former tech product manager at DBS Singapore, Ratih Permata Sari, this all female-led startup aims to shake up the skincare industry in Indonesia, catering to a Gen-Z and Millennials audience. They offer transparency, hyper-personalization, and inclusivity. Armed with the tech forward-thinking, Base is creating whitespace for an inherently crowded category. Fully digitized, all of Base’s products are sold directly from​ ​www.base.co.id​.

Ratih added, “Powered by data, Base will analyze how the environment and lifestyle are affecting the skin condition. We learn from the skin consultation result from our consumers and adapt our product offering to meet their needs. Currently, we are partnering with R&D lab in London and Seoul to help us with product development and thoughtfully produce it locally in Jakarta. With pricing starts at IDR 98,000, we want to ensure that we deliver high-quality products while still keeping it affordable.”

Melisa Irene, Partner of East Ventures says, “Base is building an important innovation in Indonesia’s beauty industry to ensure skincare products are always relevant to local consumer needs. It is a golden opportunity to crack that company can turn the consumer’s sophisticated discovery journey to be personalized yet simple.”

Abraham Hidayat, Managing Partner of Skystar Capital says, “We shared Yaumi’s and Ratih’s vision that Indonesian women need a local beauty producer that is focused on their unique skincare goals. With their focus, drive, and enthusiasm, we are confident that Base will be able to make an impact on the Indonesian beauty industry in the coming years.”

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About Base

Base is a direct-to-consumer (DTC) beauty and wellness company that caters to the diverse beauty and wellness needs of Indonesian women, by providing personalized consumer products.

It offers a fast discovery process and personalized touch of holistic online consultation results on consumers’ profiles to enables an immersive end-to-end consumer experience. Starting with personalized skincare, each Base consumers will get a custom formulation in their product. Fully digitalized and powered by data, Base is sold directly from ​www.base.co.id and ships nationwide.

About East Ventures

East Ventures is an early-stage venture fund focused on Southeast Asia and Japan. Over several years, East Ventures has invested in hundreds of companies in Indonesia, Singapore, Japan, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Thailand. The majority of East Ventures’ portfolio firms have been able to raise follow-on financing rounds.

East Ventures has a strong track record in developing pan-Asia tech-ecosystems and backing startups in their early days. Success cases include companies such as Tokopedia, Traveloka, Mercari, Warung Pintar, Disdus (acquired by Groupon), Kudo (acquired by Grab), Loket (acquired by Go-jek), Sociolla, Tech in Asia, Omise, IDN Media, Ruangguru, MokaPOS, ShopBack, Fore, and CoHive. ​https://east.vc