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With coffee starting at just 15,000 rupiah (S$1.30), Kopi Kenangan, an Indonesian coffee chain, is bucking the trend of coffee shop chains serving up pricey cups of joe.

No surprises though -- affordability is exactly what inspired the founding of Kopi Kenangan, its founder, Edward Tirtanata, 34, told The Sunday Times (ST) in an interview.

Loved coffee, but too expensive

Tirtanata told ST that he had grown up drinking three to four cups of coffee everyday.

However, the habit stopped making financial sense as coffee from foreign coffee shop chains were too expensive.

Tirtanata did not like instant coffee either, he told ST.

In 2017, Tirtanata took matters into his own hands and started Kopi Kenangan (which means "coffee memories" in Bahasa Indonesia) to offer affordable alternatives.

At its Indonesian outlets, a cup of cappuccino at Kopi Kenangan costs around 22,000 rupiah (S$1.90), according to ST.

Unicorn status

In December 2021, Kopi Kenangan made headlines after being valued at more than US$1 billion (S$1.3 billion) by investors and raising US$96 million (S$128 million) in investments, making it a billion dollar unicorn.

The Jakarta Post reported that investors include tennis star Serena Williams, as well as hit rapper and music producer Jay-Z.

Williams invested through her venture company, Serena Ventures, while Jay-Z made the investment through his venture firm Arrive, a subsidiary of entertainment management company Roc Nation Company, Tirtanata told The Jakarta Post.

Besides the two stars, basketball player Caris LeVert as well as salad retailer and unicorn Sweetgreen CEO and cofounder Jonathan Neman were also included on the list of investors.

"Our mission is to be the most-loved consumer brand in Southeast Asia and, as part of our five-year vision, we remain committed to rapidly expanding our footprint to thousands of stores across Southeast Asia and broadening our offerings", Tirtanata commented then on the funding, as quoted by Forbes.

Growing regional presence

Today, Kopi Kenangan has more than 880 outlets in Indonesia alone, ST wrote.

Tirtanata told Prestige that they also managed to open their first five stores in Malaysia in the fourth quarter of 2022.

He previously told Tech in Asia that it aims to enter two or three countries in Southeast Asia beyond Indonesia and Malaysia.

Top image via Kopi Kenangan/Instagram