Filipino exporting startup 1Export formally launches in Indonesia

Last week, Filipino startup 1Export announced it was formally launching its Indonesian headquarters, marking the company’s official expansion beyond the Philippines and into the greater Southeast Asian region.

“After two years of trying to set up, which was delayed by the pandemic, we booked the first flight as soon as the borders opened,” announced Mel Nava, 1Export founder and CEO. “After being here for three weeks, we can now finally put 1Export Indonesia on the map.”

Launched in 2016, 1Export is a one-stop, cross-border trade and fulfillment services agency. Across their portfolio of products, 1Export operates a number of e-commerce platforms and offers exporting assistance services to bring local products onto the global market. As a B2B enabler, the company evaluates the cross-border compliance of local products to ensure they meet the regulations of their target markets. They do this by offering end-to-end exporting services such as compliance documentation, product labeling, order processing and payment, export facilitation, and marketing services. According to the company, this suite of services has helped MSMEs reduce time and costs associated with exporting activities by up to 80%.

In a press briefing held last July, 1Export Chief Operating Officer Daniel Remo said the company was targeting P500 million in revenues by the end of 2022 (roughly $9.6 million), up from the P25 million (about $500,000) they recorded in 2020—which accounted for 0.2% of the total Philippine exports that year. From the 450 supplier partners the company was servicing by the end of 2021, Remo says the company intends to expand to service 3,000 Southeast Asian MSMEs—connecting them with around 60 destination markets by year-end.

To build the necessary capacities and assemble the right team to fuel this growth, 1Export successfully raised a seed round of about $850,000 between June and September last year, led by Foxmont Capital Partners, with the participation of Kerubin Capital, IdeaSpace Foundation, Singapore-based Iterative, and a consortium of angels from the Manila Angel Investors Network. 

That seed round allowed 1Export to incorporate in Indonesia, as well as establish its critical first hires in the country. Though CEO Mel Nava just flew back to the Philippines from Indonesia this past weekend, the team has two more trips to the country planned over the next two weeks where they’ll be planning out their country expansion. Initially, 1Export will be servicing Indonesian businesses with two core services: their B2B cross-border marketplace 1Export Trade, and ShipIt, their one-stop cross-border shipping platform. The company says they’ve already locked in their first Indonesian customers for these services.

“While we came here on a really tight budget, we were able to partner with different organizations, allowing us to onboard SMEs much faster than we did when we were starting in the Philippines,” Nava said. “And while the pandemic seemed like a bummer, the time to focus on the Philippines allowed us to double down on our value proposition which made it easy for us to close sales here.”

According to COO Dan Remo, their experience servicing the Philippine market presented a unique advantage as they expanded to Indonesia. Due to the size and dynamism of Indonesia’s domestic market, exporting is a largely overlooked opportunity among local MSMEs. While persistent challenges force many Filipino firms to look outward in order to grow, most of Indonesia’s startups have found massive success in focusing just on their domestic market.

“We are one of the very first in the space operating in Indonesia that are looking outwards with services like cross-border shipping,” Remo said. “Some people we talk to think we’re shipping from one island to another, when in fact we’re looking to connect Indonesian businesses with the world.”

“If you go anywhere really in the world—with the exception maybe of the Netherlands or pockets of the Middle East—you will not find an Indonesian store the way you might readily find a Filipino store. But Indonesia, like the Philippines, has large diaspora communities across the globe. So those are the communities we’re looking to serve.”

To fuel their continued expansion in Indonesia, 1Export is planning to raise $3 million in pre-Series A funding between the third week of May and the end of June 2022.