TOKYO -- Bukalapak, one of the largest e-commerce platforms in Indonesia, saw its revenue for the first six months of 2021 jump nearly 35% on the year, as pandemic-induced social restrictions continue to be a tailwind for online retailers.
The company booked revenue of 863 billion rupiah ($60.5 million) for the six months ended June, up 34.6% from the previous year, financial results released on Tuesday showed. This was Bukalapak's first earnings announcement since going public on the Indonesia Stock Exchange in early August.
Revenue from its Mitra Bukalapak service, which helps mom and pop shops -- warung in local parlance -- digitize, was the main source of growth, rocketing 349.6% on the year in the first half.
The Mitra service now accounts for 33.5% of Bukalapak's overall revenue, up from 10% a year ago, a sign that the company is doubling down on offline retail amid cutthroat competition in the Indonesian e-commerce market.
Crucially, Bukalapak has been able to trim its net losses. It posted a net loss of 766 billion rupiah for the six-month period, a decline of 25% compared with the same period last year.
The smaller loss will cheer investors, who have seen lackluster share price performance from the company. Bukalapak shares ended Tuesday's trading at 945 rupiah, down 14.8% from the peak hit on the second day of trading on Aug. 9. Its share price had at one point dropped to 775 rupiah in mid-August, well below the IPO price of 850 rupiah.
Still, Bukalapak is the 16th-largest listed company in Indonesia, with a market capitalization of 97 trillion rupiah.
In its earnings presentation, the company also said it had fully acquired Five Jack, a company that runs a marketplace for virtual items on digital games.
"The gaming industry in Indonesia is large and growing, with a consumer-to-consumer segment that is still predominantly unorganized," the company said in the presentation. The marketplace "has grown rapidly, and is currently profitable," and there are "significant synergy opportunities to cross-sell [the marketplace's] wide range of [products] to Bukalapak's user base," it said.