Amanda Susanti Cole has a small, useful confession. Before Sayurbox she started several businesses, from school years through university, and none of them took off.
She told an online discussion in April 2020 that she has always loved building new things and solving problems. The side projects were part-time and did not become anything. She treats that as part of the process: success, she has said, is a process.
And the first cheque came from a woman, something Amanda herself points to when she talks about women backing women.
After university she began gardening, in her words just for fun. It did not stay a hobby. Working with growing things put her in the middle of a puzzle: farmers produced food, cities wanted it, and in between sat a long chain of middlemen. Most farmers struggled to reach buyers, and many earned little from what they grew. Sources differ on the year, 2016 or 2017, but the company that came from this was Sayurbox, an online service that delivers vegetables and fruit from local farmers.
It was the first business she ran full time. She was not alone. Metha Trisnawati and Rama Notowidigdo are listed as co-founders. And the first cheque came from a woman, something Amanda herself points to when she talks about women backing women.
What almost nobody notices from outside is how hard the product is. Vegetables rot. Orders must arrive in a day, not a week. A grocery startup lives or dies by logistics. She has also said she works in industries dominated by men, and feels that women must work harder.
The scale came fast. Forbes put her on its 30 Under 30 list in 2019. By 2020 the company was reported to work with about 10,000 farmers and about 80 staff. In 2021, a Series B of around US$15m led by Astra arrived, and in March 2022 a US$120m Series C led by Northstar and Alpha JWC Ventures, with IFC taking part.
Then the bill. Pandemic demand faded, and in April 2023 layoffs were reported, with Amanda pointing to weaker online consumer growth after the pandemic.
Her path leaves one practical note for a first-time founder. Several quiet failures were not wasted. They were practice at finding a problem worth full-time attention. The one that stuck started with dirt on her hands, not a slide deck.