Author: Fintech News Indonesia

Ringkas, an Indonesian digital mortgage startup, has raised a US$3.5 million seed funding round in a bid to address homeownership challenges in the country, according to a report by e27. Led by East Ventures and Crestone Venture Capital, the round was also joined by 500 Global, Teja Ventures, Orvel Ventures, and Hustle Fund. This latest funding round was raised a year after Ringkas had secured a US2.3 million pre-seed funding round in May 2022. Ringkas will be utilising the funds to further develop and expand its platform across multiple cities in Indonesia and the secondary market. The firm also plans…

Indonesian credit scoring firm Skorlife has secured US$4 million in a seed funding round led by Hummingbird Ventures and joined by QED Investors, AC Ventures, and Saison Capital. Skorlife had previously raised a US$.2 million pre-seed round in September 2022 from AC Ventures, Saison Capital and several angel investors in Asia. Co-founded by Ongki Kurniawan and Karan Khetan, Skorlife had launched its offering to the public during that time and has since reached 100,000 downloads. The company also claims to be the only credit builder to join the Indonesian Financial Services Authority’s (OJK) regulatory sandbox and secure ISO 27001 and…

Indonesia-focused venture capital firm East Ventures announced the first and final close of its US$250 million Growth Plus fund. The fund will specifically target its own portfolio companies that demonstrate strong potential. East Ventures added that its Seed and Growth funds have received strong interest and have been extended to US$585 million. This brings the total funds raised by East Ventures in the past year to US$835 million. The firm will continue to invest in early-stage and growth-stage companies through its Seed and Growth funds, while the Growth Plus fund will provide East Ventures’ portfolio companies with the resource to…

Indonesia’s fintech industry is expanding rapidly, driven by rising consumer adoption, demand for innovative digital financial products and a dynamic venture capital (VC) landscape. Moving forward, the sector is poised for further growth, owing to compelling market demographics, low formal banking penetration and increased innovation in the finance landscape, a joint report by Indonesian early-stage venture capital (VC) firm AC Ventures and global consulting firm the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) says. The report, titled Indonesia’s Fintech Industry is Ready to Rise, looks at the progress of fintech in the country, delving into the sector’s major verticals and emerging trends. Among…

Indonesian e-commerce platform Bukalapak has acquired a majority stake in Malaysian price comparison platform iPrice. Details of the transaction was not disclosed. This acquisition comes on the heels of Bukalapak’s decision to shift its focus from competing head-to-head with other marketplaces, to building or acquiring niche marketplaces and accelerating their growth. Over the last 8 years, iPrice has been building such a niche marketplace. iPrice said that it has helped more than 100 million consumers across 7 countries in SouthEast Asia save money in 2022. Its proprietary technology surfaces the best deals and discounts from more than 8 billion offers…

Mobee has launched its new digital asset exchange in Indonesia licensed by BAPPEBTI, Indonesia’s regulatory body for trading digital assets, and raised an undisclosed sum in a funding round led by 1982 Ventures. The round was also joined by Indonesian family offices and angel investors. Mobee said that the funds will be used to expand its operations, launch new products, and bolster its hiring process. Mobee’s new platform offers a range of financial products for investors seeking passive income as well as more sophisticated wealth management products designed for more active investors. “We are thrilled to launch this new exchange…

Indonesian insurtech startup Qoala announced the close of it US$ 7.5 million Series B+ funding round led by Switzerland’s responsAbility Investments. Qoala had previously raised US$ 65 million in a Series B round in May 2022. This funding round was also joined by Appworks as well as existing investors Eurazeo and Indogen. Qoala said that the funds will be used to further boost its product and geographic expansion. The firm already has a presence in Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia. Qoala had acquired Thai insurtech FairDee in a bid to expand into the market in 2021. The company distributes retail insurance…

Kredivo Holdings, the parent company of Kredivo and Krom Bank Indonesia formerly known as FinAccel, announced the close of its US$270 million Series D fundraise led by Japanese global bank Mizuho Bank. The oversubscribed round was joined by Kredivo’s existing investors including Square Peg Capital, Jungle Ventures, Naver Financial Corporation, GMO Venture Partners and Openspace Ventures among others. The funds will be used to expand Kredivo’s expanding offerings which include Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL), personal loans, credit cards (physical and virtual) as well as support the upcoming launch of its neobank Krom. The firm has made several appointments in…

Bank Indonesia (BI) announced that it has onboarded another 16 participants for its domestic real-time payments scheme BI-FAST powered by ACI Worldwide. BI-FAST is accessible through applications or channels provided by the payment system industry to facilitate retail payment transactions for the public. The scheme aims to encourage the acceleration of digitisation to support financial inclusion and national economic growth. The central bank reported that the total number of BI-FAST participants since its launch in December 2021 now stands at 122, representing 94% of the share of the national retail payment system. This sixth batch of participants include 11 national…

Fiat-crypto gateway payment provider Alchemy Pay teamed up with fintech firm Berkah Digital Pembayaran to secure licenses for remittance and fund transfer services from Bank Indonesia. Alchemy Pay said in a statement that the licenses will enable both entities to enhance their payout methods as well as reduce its operating costs. According to Bank Indonesia’s official site, Berkah Digital has been listed as a payment service provider under the license category 3. Berkah Digital Pembayaran operates from Indonesia and is known primarily for BDPay which offers remittance services t retail and corporate customers. The Singapore-based Alchemy Pay is known for…

MUFG Innovation Partners (MUIP) and MUFG Bank, subsidiaries of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG), has set up a US$100 million fund with Bank Danamon Indonesia. The fund named MUFG Innovation Partners Garuda No. 1 Limited Investment Partnership is MUIP’s third and will focus on the Indonesian market. MUFG has a 89.9% stake in the fund while Bank Danamon holds 10.0% and the remaining 0.1% will be owned by MUIP. According to a statement by MUFG, the fund will be used to make strategic investments in emerging companies that are expected to have synergies with Danamon which is a subsidiary of…

Indonesian fintech firm Komunal announced that it has raised US$ 8.5 million in a funding round led by venture capital firm East Ventures. This funding round is also participated by AlphaTrio Sustainable Technology Fund, Skystar Capital, Sovereign’s Capital, Ozora, and Gobi Partners. The raise comes on the heels of a US$2.1 million Series A financing round in September last year. Komunal said that it will use the funds to “accelerate financial inclusion and strengthen the neo-rural bank ecosystem in Indonesia, especially outside the Greater Jakarta area”. The fintech which positions itself as a neo rural bank has two main business…

wagely, an Indonesian earned wage access firm, announced that it has enabled a bill payments feature for its users. Employees of wagely’s partners can now top-up Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) electricity tokens and mobile phone balances. They will also be able to pay water utility company (PDAM) and postpaid electricity bills directly from the app. For these workers, it could also mean being able to pay bills on time without having to borrow or accrue late fees for missing payment deadlines. wagely said that its data showed that paying for utility bills was among the top three reasons employees are…

Indonesia-focused venture capital firm East Ventures announced that it has selected 30 teams from its hackathon programme for laid-off tech employees, PASTI BISA, Maju Terus Pantang Mundur (IDPB MTPM). The programme received a total of 270 submissions where 120 shortlisted teams went through 11 days of coaching and hackathon in a hybrid format with East Ventures and other experts in the industry. The 30 teams selected were Aksata, AYANGKU, Barengan, BotaNize, Cios, Disanitasi, Dole, Fellas, Foodtrition, God Army, Hello, HomHub, IJO, Kommodity, Meramu, Middleboard, MIG, Montiro, Mutual, Qelas.id, Repax, Sak Kula, SAMA ERP, Sampai Pinter, SOCIO STARTUP INDONESIA, Solopreneurs AI,…

FinAccel, the parent company of Indonesian Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) platform Kredivo, announced that Allen Shim has joined its Board of Directors. Allen was the senior finance leader for Slack since it was an early-stage startup and most recently served as its CFO for three years. In those roles, he was instrumental in building the finance and operational function from scratch, led the direct listing of the company on the NYSE and oversaw the acquisition of Slack by Salesforce.com. Allen’s experience will be beneficial to FinAccel as the firm revives plans for an initial public offering (IPO) in the…

Indonesia’s domestic real-time payments scheme BI-FAST, launched by Bank Indonesia and powered by ACI Worldwide, has announced plans to launch a wide range of new real-time payment services. BI-FAST payment services will be extended to include bulk credit, direct debit and Request for Pay services. Additionally, BI-FAST also expects its number of participants to continue expanding including additional multi-tenant aggregators, from the leading national switches of Indonesia. BI-FAST has onboarded a total of 106 participants since its launch in December 2021, 19 of which through multi-tenant aggregators, representing 87% of the national retail payments market. One of the multi-tenant aggregators,…

FinAccel, the parent company of Indonesian Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) platform Kredivo, announced a flurry of senior appointments to bolster its management team to prepare for the upcoming launch of its digital bank Krom. Formerly known as Bank Bisnis Internasional, Krom Bank is FinAccel’s digital banking unit in Indonesia following the deal to increase its shareholding to 75% in February this year. Among the new appointments are Chao Gao as CTO, Jean Lua as Chief HR Officer, Matt Mullarkey as General Counsel and Wisaksana Djawi as Director of Krom Bank. Prior to joining FinAccel, Chao was CTO at Imprint,…

East Ventures, an Indonesia-focused venture capital firm, has launched its fourth edition of the PASTI BISA programme to aid those affected by recent layoffs in the tech ecosystem. The latest edition dubbed as Maju Terus Pantang Mundur (IDPB MTPM), which translates as keep moving forward and never give up, provides an opportunity for aspiring entrepreneurs to develop their business ideas and take their first step in creating a startup. They will receive direct coaching from experts in the digital ecosystem across multiple areas, connect with investors, and receive a total funding of US$ 500,000 (IDR 7.5 billion) in the form…

Indonesian digital signature and identity provider Privy announced that it has secured US$48 million in a Series C funding round led by global investment firm KKR. The round also witnessed participation from existing investors MDI Ventures, GGV Capital and Telkomsel Mitra Inovasi (TMI) as well as new investors including Singtel Innov8. The investment will help Privy innovate further with new offerings and stronger capabilities as well as build a strong foundation for overseas expansion. According to Privy, it has more than 30 million verified users and 1,800 enterprise consumers on its digital signature, digital verification, and subscription products, and processes…

Indonesians have been increasingly turning towards a digital lifestyle especially during the pandemic where banks were forced to accelerate their digitisation to accommodate their customers’ needs. In line with this, banks need to create a digital platform that performs as a one-stop center for financial solutions, allowing customers to easily access them anytime, anywhere. In a mission to provide its very own one-stop platform for financial solutions, Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI) had launched its “BRI Digital Saving” offering in 2020. This product by BRI allows its customers to sign up for a savings account through its digital banking app BRImo.…