Indonesia’s fintech sector has evolved tremendously over the past decade, witnessing a sixfold increase in its number players from a mere 51 active fintech companies in 2011 to 334 in 2022, data from the Boston Consulting Group and AC Ventures show.

Booming funding activity has helped fuel the growth of Indonesia’s fintech sector. Between 2020 and 2022, investment into fintech in Indonesia totaled US$3.2 billion, a sum that represents 4.6 times the funding seen during the three preceding years.

To get a sense of Indonesia’s up-and-coming fintech superstars, we look today at some of the country’s hottest startups. For this list, we’ve selected fastest-growing fintech companies that headquartered in Indonesia, compiling a selection of both early-stage and later-stage startups that have been making waves, witnessing considerable growth, and which are worth watching closely.

Xendit

Founded in 2014, Xendit is a fintech company that provides payment solutions and simplifies the payment process for businesses.

Xendit enables businesses to accept payments in various methods including direct debit, virtual accounts, credit and debit cards, e-wallets, retail outlets, and online installments, disburse payroll, run marketplaces and more, on an easy integration platform supported by 24/7 customer service.

The company claims more than 3,000 customers, among which Samsung Indonesia, Grab Pay, Ninja Van Philippines, Qoala, Unicef Indonesia, Cashalo and Shopback, and says it tripled annualized transactions from 65 million to 200 million and increased total payments value from US$6.5 billion to US$15 billion between 2021 and 2022.

Xendit expanded to Malaysia in January, its third market after Indonesia and the Philippines. The startup is now reportedly looking to enter Thailand and Vietnam by the end of the year, a spokesperson told Katadata.co.id in July.

The expansion follows a US$300 million Series D Xendit secured in May 2022 intended at launching in new markets across Southeast Asia. The round brought the company’s total funding to US$538 million, making it one of the most well-funded and valuable fintech startups in Indonesia.

Akulaku

Founded in 2016, Akulaku is a banking and digital finance platform in Southeast Asia. The company aims to meet the daily financial needs of underserved customers in emerging markets through digital banking, digital financing, digital investment, and insurance brokerage services. Its target is to serve 50 million customers by 2025.

Akulaku’s core products include an e-commerce platform that allows users to shop by using installments and a virtual credit card. The company also operates Asetku, an online wealth management platform, and the Neobank app, a mobile digital banking offering supported by Bank Neo Commerce.

The company, which has a presence in Indonesia, the Philippines, and Malaysia, claims 26 million users and 4.8 monthly active users in 2021. Last year, total revenue grew by 122% to US$598 million and total gross merchandise volume (GMV) increased by 136% to US$5.8 billion.

Akulaku secured US$200 million in December 2022 to fuel its growth and expand into new territories, markets, and products. The round brought the company’s total venture capital (VC) funding to US$520 million, according to Dealroom.

Akulaku is Indonesia’s most valuable fintech startup at US$2 billion, data from CB Insights show.

Dana

Founded in 2017, Dana is a digital wallet that provides payment infrastructure and financial services in Indonesia. The platform allows users to transact with ease, send money, pay bills, make e-commerce purchases, and more.

For merchants, the technology provides wide developer integration options and easy onboarding, supporting the national QR Indonesia Standard (QRIS) network as well as the national open API payments standards (BI-SNAP).

Dana has quietly being making inroads into social commerce with its group buying platform BoraBora. The platform, an initiative under Dana’s venture studio arm Dana Ventures, will build products that align with the digital payment firm’s core financial services, a top executive told DealStreetAsia in February.

Since launching its application in December 2018, the company claims it has reached over 115 million users in Indonesia, and now processes an average of over 10 million transactions a day. According to data.ai, Dana was the most-downloaded finance application in Indonesia in 2021.

Dana claims it is on track to more than double its total payment volume or gross transaction value in 2022 compared to 2021.

Dana has raised US$250 million in disclosed funding, and is valued at US$1.13 billion, according to CB Insights.

Ajaib

Founded in 2018, Ajaib is an online wealth management solution that allows users to buy and sell financial products including stocks, exchange traded funds (ETFs), and mutual funds. The platform targets first-time millennial investors in Indonesia, with the goal of increasing financial inclusion.

Ajaib does not offer commission-free trading, but does apply lower fees compared to its competitors. The company also claims to be the first online stockbroker in Indonesia to have scrapped minimum capital requirements.

Ajaib said in July that it had recorded 3 million retail investors for its stock trading and Ajaib  Crypto products in the first half of 2023, a 50% increase from November 2022. The company claims it is one of the largest brokerages by the number of transactions in Indonesia.

Ajaib joined the unicorn club after a US$153 million fundraise in October 2021 which brought its total funding to about US$243 million. It’s backed by investors such as DST Global, Ribbit Capital, ICONIQ Capital and IVP.

Mapan

Founded in 2009, Mapan focuses on eliminating financial barriers for low-income communities and augment their access to essential financial resources. The company provides an “arisan” product that allows lower-income groups to increase their buying power to purchase household goods such as cookware, electronics, and furniture.

In Indonesia, arisans are traditionally rotating savings and credit associations (RSCA) that let groups of people, primarily women, save and borrow money together. Mapan digitizes that concept and turned it into a service that users, also mostly women, can use to pay for goods and services.

Mapan was formerly known as Ruma and focused on enabling small neighborhood stores in rural areas to become bill and phone credit sellers. The company eventually pivoted and launched its Mapan Arisan app in 2015, TechCrunch reported in 2022.

In addition to its arisan product, Mapan also provides a bills payment app called Mapan Pulsa, and a consumer goods resale platform called Mapan Mart.

The startup claims more than 3 million members across its three core products, and said earlier this year that revenue grew more than threefold from 2021 to 2022.

Mapan has secured US$15.1 million in funding so far, data from Dealroom show. Its latest round was a US$15 million Series A closed in June 2022. The round was meant for it to grow its product range and expand its customer reach.

Durianpay

Launched in 2020, Durianpay is a payments platform and aggregator that helps businesses connect with different payment service providers and gateways. The company allows businesses of all sizes to accept and process payments through credit cards, debit cards, online banking, e-wallets, virtual accounts, and more.

Durianpay offers one of the most versatile payment methods for both receiving and disbursing business-to-business (B2B) payments in Indonesia, providing business customers with an expansive range of payment options coupled with a user-friendly no-code interface for them to effortlessly support new and emerging payment methods.

The company claims it is the only payment service provider in the market that has connections with the top ten banks and the top five e-wallets, and said in June that it had witnessed a fivefold year-on-year growth in annualized total processing value (TPV) run rate at $700 million since 2022 as well as a positive gross margin since it was launched.

Durianpay credits the uptick to its latest B2B product which allows mid-market and large enterprises to fully automate their invoice processing and even process seamless incremental payments on large invoices.

The startup has raised US$3.4 million in funding so far, data from Dealroom show, and is now looking to expand its team and make new hires across product, tech, operations, finance, and business development.

Skorlife

Founded in 2022, SkorLife is a credit technology startup. The company offers a credit builder app for people to access and monitor their credit scores, credit reports, and other relevant data from the nation’s credit bureaus instantly and for free.

In addition to score verification, Skorlife also helps users detect identity theft and alerts them when someone tries to use their identity to apply for a loan. The app also offers guidance on how they can build their credit through educational content and credit improvement tools.

For example, the app will remind customers to pay their bills, help them improve their credit mix and remain them to watch the age of their credit. It also provides an Identity Monitoring feature, which alerts users when someone tries to use their identity to apply for a loan.

Skorlife secured US$4 million in a seed funding round in May led by Hummingbird Ventures and joined by QED Investors, AC Ventures, and Saison Capital. The round brought the startup’s total funding to US$6.2 million.

Skorlife reached 100,000 downloads in May and was recently admitted into the regulatory sandbox of the Financial Services Authority (OJK) of Indonesia. It has also received ISO 27001 and ISO 27701 certifications.