Author: Fintech News Indonesia

Standard Chartered has formed a strategic partnership with Bukalapak to launch digital banking offerings which will be hosted on the nexus platform which is a banking-as-a-service solution by SC Ventures. Through this partnership, Standard Chartered and Bukalapak aims to bring innovation in financial and e-commerce services by offering an array of financial services through Bukalapak’s ecosystem. Additionally, they are also looking to boost financial inclusion in Indonesia as Bukalapak is said to have an extensive coverage to 100 million users and 13.5 million merchants. A recent survey by Standard Chartered revealed that the pandemic acted as a catalyst for the…

BukuKas, a digital platform and app for digitising SMEs in Indonesia, has raised USD 10 million during its Series A funding round led by Sequoia Capital India, bringing the total funds raised to USD 22 million. Existing investors Saison Capital, January Capital, Founderbank Capital, Cambium Grove, Endeavor Catalyst and Amrish Rau also participated in the round. The capital will be deployed to accelerate merchant acquisition, strengthen BukuKas’ engineering and product capabilities in both its Jakarta and Bangalore offices, as well as expand the range of services offered to merchants in line with the company’s vision to provide an end-to-end software…

ZA Tech, the Hong Kong-based technology venture founded by insurance company ZhongAn Online and backed by Softbank’s Vision Fund, announced that it has formed a joint venture with the holding company of e-wallet OVO, to offer Indonesian insurance companies easy and secure access to ZA Tech’s proprietary insurtech capabilities and applications. Indonesia remains a highly underinsured market, with only 1.7% out of the over 265 million Indonesians currently covered by private insurance. It is also the fastest-growing market in ASEAN especially in the gig economy, with economic growth averaging over 5% in the past three years. Against this supportive backdrop,…

Gojek has acquired 22% of Indonesia’s Bank Jago as part of a strategic partnership to offer financial services in Indonesia. The investment, made through Gojek’s payments and financial services arm, will reportedly be worth 2.25 trillion Indonesian rupiah (US$159 million). The deal also does not alter the control of Jago, with Metamorfosis Ekosistem Indonesia and Wealth Track Technology continuing to be Jago’s controlling shareholders with a combined ownership of 51 percent. The aim of this partnership is for Jago to provide access to digital banking services through Gojek’s platform, allowing Gojek’s millions of users to instantly open a bank account…

Bank Indonesia, the country’s central bank, has issued two new e-money licenses so far this year. These two new additions bring the total number of licensed e-money providers to 51, comprising 14 banks, and 37 non-bank providers, according to data from the central bank. Visi Jaya Indonesia and Bank Jabar dan Banten are the latest players to join the space with their respective services Eidupay and DigiCash. Eidupay is a so-called “smart electronic money application” that allows users to transfer funds and make payments locally. Similarly, DigiCash is an e-money service that operates through a mobile app. These are entering…

COVID-19 has been an important catalyst for digital transformation across all industries. In banking, the pandemic has accelerated banks’ digitalization push and triggered a sharp rise in digital payments and digital banking usage. In partnership with Finastra, the Fintech News Network is running a series of interviews with the industry’s top banking voices to understand how their organizations have responded to these changes. As part of the “Redefining Finance for Good” series, we spoke to Rico Usthavia Frans, IT and operations director at Bank Mandiri, the largest bank in Indonesia in terms of assets, loans and deposits, on how the…

iPrice Group collaborated with App Annie, an app market data and insight company, to summarise updates on e-wallet app platforms in Indonesia from Q2 2019 until 2020. Here are 7 major findings on e-wallets in Indonesia: 1. Local Players Dominate the E-Wallet Competition in Indonesia A previous study showed local players getting the top billing in the e-wallet rankings in Indonesia. This can be attributed to the promotions and campaigns done by them as well as the government’s support in enabling Indonesia to become a cashless society. GOPAY, OVO, Dana, and LinkAja are the top 4 e-wallets with the most…

Amar Bank announced its collaboration with Google Cloud in introducing Senyumku, which they described as a digital-only bank launched in the Cloud. The collaboration is supported by FIS Cloud and Infofabrica, to enable the bank to utilize data analytics intelligence and machine learning so as to provide a more efficient personalized customer experience. Since the regional launch of Google Cloud in Jakarta, Amar Bank has used Google Cloud technology for various business uses such as launching various products and features, big data architecture, AI and analytics, and others.  Amar Bank said is on a path of continuous digital transformation to…

Qoala an insurtech headquarted out of Jakarta, today announced its successful US$13.5 million Series A fundraise. The round was led by Centauri Fund – a JV between funds from South Korea’s Kookmin Bank and Telkom Indonesia. New investors in the round included Sequoia India, Flourish Ventures, Kookmin Bank Investments, Mirae Asset Venture Investment and Mirae Asset Sekuritas, with participation from existing investors, MassMutual Ventures Southeast Asia, MDI Ventures, Surge, SeedPlus and Bank Central Asia’s Central Capital Ventura. This fundraising round is happening amid a global slowdown of fintech deals, Qoala is the second South East Asia based insurtech startup to…

IDC Financial Insights today released the 2020 update of its FinTech Fast 101 research which details a list of fast-growing fintechs in Asia/Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ) from 11 key markets. IDC’s FinTech Fast 101 research refers to fast-growing fintech players based on extensive on-ground analysis of fintech players from China, India, Indonesia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam, South Korea, and Australia. 10 Fast Growing FinTechs in Indonesia AKULAKU Akulaku is focused on e-commerce and online financial services in Southeast Asia. They have established offices in five countries, providing localised services to users, including online shopping…

The Indonesian fintech industry witnessed steady growth in 2019 with several companies in the sector reaching notable scale and recognition. Ovo, a digital wallet, emerged as the country’s fifth startup unicorn, while several others, including Akulaku, a consumer installment loan platform, Kredivo, a digital credit platform, and Modalku, a crowdfunding platform for small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) financing, reached valuations of over US$100 million, according to DSResearch’s Fintech Report 2019. With Indonesia’s fintech sector reaching new highs, we look today at six Indonesian fintech startups to watch out for in 2020. These startups are either fairly new or have remained…

Go-Jek announced that it will integrate its rival e-wallet, LinkAja by the end of this year, which means that it will operate alongside Go-Pay within its extended ecosystem. Go-Pay is an extension of Go-Jek and often, seen as a rival to LinkAja. The collaboration, according the press release, aims to reach those untouched by formal financial services. The Jakarta Post further stated that LinkAja seemed less vocal about the partnership with Go-Pay compared to Budi Gandasoebrata, Go-Pay’s managing director. The article further stated that LinkAja, with shareholders all from state-owned enterprises, has been positioned as their response to the growth…

OVO, one of Indonesia’s leading digital payments platform, has selected Refinitiv’s World-Check to support its Know-Your-Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) procedures to minimize its exposure to financial crime risks. This partnership comes at a time when OVO looks to continue the expansion of its business and to drive financial inclusion across the country. With Indonesia’s push to build an inclusive digital economy and financial ecosystem, financial technology services such as OVO play an integral role in defining industry standards and enhancing measures to fight against financial crime. According to Refinitiv’s annual financial crime report 2019, three-quarters of Asia Pacific…

KoinWorks, one of Indonesia’s key players in the peer-to-peer (P2P) lending space, OJK, today announced its Series B fundraise of S$16.5 million (IDR 170 billion). Prior to this funding round, Koinworks was seated firmly among the 10 top funded fintech startups in Indonesia. The oversubscribed round was co-led by EV Growth and Quona Capital, with participation from existing investors. The new funding will be used to expand the KoinWorks team and partnerships, and further develop systems and technology to provide financial inclusion throughout Indonesia with its popular one platform. KoinWorks was established in 2016 by co-founders Benedicto Haryono and Willy…

Bank Indonesia Governor, Perry Warjiyo recently unveiled “Indonesia’s Payment System 2025 Vision” a strategic framework consisting of 5 key initiatives to future proof Indonesia’s payments ecosystem for a digital future. According to a press statement issued by the central bank, some of IPS 2025’s goal include enabling closer collaboration between banks and fintech, and faster digital transformation within banks. The 5 initiatives that will be carried out by the central bank will revolve the following key themes; open banking, development of retail payments, development of wholesale payments & financial market infrastructure, data & digital identity, and regtech & suptech. Laying…

One cannot talk about startups in Indonesia without bringing up Bukalapak, arguably one of the biggest e-commerce platforms in the nation. Bukalapak has graduated from its startup roots and gained the coveted title of Indonesian unicorn. They are now in the midst of an expansion exercise into other Asia Pacific markets. Bukalapak has a robust history with the many e-wallet providers operating in Indonesia right now, and has also opened their platform up to more innovative fintech providers. The e-commerce unicorn allows its e-commerce buyers to pay with Akulaku and Kredivo, both platforms which grants installment payment abilities to buyers without credit…

tryb announced today that it lead the pre-series A round for Gradana, a peer-to-peer property crowdfunding platform based in Indonesia. According to Gradana’s CEO Angela Oetama, one of the key challenges towards buying and renting property in Indonesia is the hefty down payment that’s required; an issue that the startup aims to address with its platform. Indonesians interested to rent a house can sometimes be slapped with the requirement of a minimum one-year rental payment in advance. Gradana’s core offering can be broken down into four products; property purchase financing, rental bridging loan, renovation financing and invoice-based financing for property…

Fintech has entered a new age in Indonesia, most ostensibly represented when the wild wild west of the peer-to-peer lending scene in Indonesia is finally regulated by the Otoritas Jasa Keuangan (OJK), the country’s financial services authority. Standing as a nation with 180 million unbanked individuals (or 66% of its population), Indonesia is moving towards financial inclusion at record speed. The same nation had the biggest account ownership increase in the region, growing from 20 percent in 2011 to 36 percent in 2014 to 49 percent in 2017. It also had a huge growth in savings behaviour of many other emerging…

Alibaba-backed Akulaku is the top funded fintech startups in Indonesia, and now a shareholder of a local bank as reported by Katadata. Akulaku reportedly made an Rp 500 billion (approximately SG$48 million) stake into PT Bank Yudha Bhakti Tbk (BBYB), in stages. At the time of writing, Bank Yudha Bhakti has pocketed Rp 158.7 billion (approximately SG$15 million) from the deal. After the first stage, Bank Yudha Bhakti will conduct a rights issue in May and Akulaku will act as a standby buyer. As a result, Bank Yudha Bhakti will adopt technology from Akulaku into its business as part of…

Grab has been accused of being the most capitalised startup in Southeast Asia’s history, and with this recent closing of a whopping Series H we find it hard to disagree. Grab opened this round round since June last year, and at its close, sees participation from quite a few big names: returning investor Softbank Vision Fund, Toyota Motor Corporation, Oppenheimer Funds, Hyundai Motor Group, Booking Holdings, Microsoft Corporation, Ping An Capital, and Yamaha Motor. With Softbank Vision Fund’s injection, the total financing secured in Grab’s Series H totals up to over US$4.5 billion (SG$6.11 billion). As usual, Grab expressed interest in furthering its “super app…