Southeast Asian Crowdfunding platform Crowdo has partnered with three secondary banks to expand its business in Bali. Crowdo considers itself to be one of the largest and fastest growing crowdfunding and peer-to-peer lending platform in Indonesia by membership.
It partnered with BPR Perdana, BPR Fiducia Civitas and BPR Supradanamas at the Digital Banking and Fintech Ecosystem Gathering. The event was held in Bali last week.
The rural or secondary banks are locally known as bank pasar. The head of lender relations at Crowdo, Joshua Sihombing told The Jakarta Post that the cooperation between secondary banks and Crowdo intends to provide easy funding access to small and medium-sized enterprises in Bali. In turn, this could support their business expansion. These platforms might help to boost financial inclusion in the country, he said.
Crowdo is based in Singapore and registered with the Otoritas Jasa Keuangan. So far, it has financed 5,000 companies in Indonesia. Crowdo also operates in Malaysia. Otoritas Jasa Keuangan is Indonesia’s Financial Services Authority.
In 2017, Crowdo launched its securities crowdfunding platform at the Singapore Exchange (SGX) — and was granted complete regulatory registration in Indonesia by Otoritas Jasa Keuangan.
The company offers a host of peer-to-business solutions comprising microfinance business loans and larger working order loans.
The crowdfunding market first emerged in the UK in 2007, following which it rapidly developed in the US. China is the largest crowdfunding market representing 37 percent of the global market in 2018.
Indonesia crowdfunding and peer-to-peer lending market is a relatively new concept to the local businesses. Last year, Otoritas Jasa Keuangan was developing new rules for equity crowdfunding.