The funding round for Xendit was led by Tiger Global Management. Other investors that also participated include returning investors Accel, Amasia and Goat Capital.

Moses Lo, co-founder and chief executive officer, Xendit told the media, “It’s now clear that businesses need to have a digital presence. Xendit’s digital payments infrastructure enables the region’s new class of entrepreneurs to start and scale their payments faster and supercharges larger companies with modern, world-class financial services. What AWS has done for Compute, Xendit is doing for payments.”

Earlier this month, Indonesia-based Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) platform Kredivo announced its expansion into Vietnam. Krevido is entering a joint venture with Phoenix Holding, a family investment company based in Vietnam.

In this regard, Valery Crottaz, Chief Operating Officer at Kredivo told the media, “The launch of Kredivo in Vietnam as the first market share outside Indonesia is another achievement and milestone to be proud of this year. Vietnam is a logical choice given the country’s low credit card penetration and a rapidly growing middle class; fast-growing e-commerce market; and similar demographic and consumption patterns with Indonesia.”

Recently, US-based payment giant PayPal announced that they acquired Japanese Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) firm Paidy for $2.7 billion mostly in cash, to enhance its business in Japan. The deal is expected to be completed by the end of 2021.

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Founded in 2010, Amartha has since then disbursed more than $258.5 million to the aid of 670,000 women in Java, Sumatra, and Sulawesi Island. This latest investment announcement comes after Amartha raised $28 million from the Women’s World Banking Capital Partners II fund and MDI Ventures earlier this year. The latest collaboration between Amartha and Norfund was marked by a signing ceremony that was attended by Norway Ambassador Vegard Kaale and Amartha CEO & founder Andi Taufan Garuda Putra at the Norwegian Embassy in Jakarta.

Norfund Investment Director & Head of Asia Regional Office Fay Chetnakarnkul told the media, “We appreciate this partnership with Amartha and the work that they have been doing to empower women micro-business owners in Indonesia. Norfund is a crucial platform for the Norwegian Government to empower private institutions in developing nations as well as to decrease the poverty rate. This investment is the first for Norfund in a financial institution in Indonesia; my hope is that it will play a great role in supporting the growth and success of Amartha.”

Norfund’s investment in Amartha is in line with the company’s aim where they strive to take part in environmentally-friendly activities from 2018, which includes the publication of an annual environmental impact and sustainability report. The company also scored the Global Impact Investing Rating System (GIIRS) award from B-Corp with a Platinum grade in 2019.

Image credits- beenext.com

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The funding round for Finantier was led by East Ventures. Other investors that also
participated in the funding round include AC Ventures and Genesia Ventures.
What Finantier does is that it collects datasets from various banks and financial
institutions, enriches the data and passes them to third parties through an open finance
application programming interface (API), which is a software intermediary that allows
two applications to talk to each other. According to the company, its aim is to plug this
gap by providing infrastructure and data products required by businesses to build the
next generation of financial services.

Willson Cuaca, co-founder and managing partner of East Ventures told the media,
“Providing equal access to financial services will create multiple effects to the
Indonesian economy. Currently, hundreds of companies work with their own unique
solutions to bring financial services to more people. We believe Finantier will help them
to offer more products and services to this underserved section of the population.”

Earlier this month, another Indonesian fintech startup LinkAja raised around $100
million in its series B funding round led by Singapore super app Grab. The investment
round also saw participation from Telkomsel, BRI Ventura Investama and Mandiri
Capital Indonesia. The startup will use the funds to bolsterits reach to the middle class and MSMEs in Indonesia.

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According to the Alipay, its expansion plans will see it establish its business in four continents.

Alipay’s expansion plan is based on the surge in online activities as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

Established in 2018, EmpatKali provides its users with installment-based payment solutions for both online and offline transactions.

Recently, Afterpay also announced its formal launch in Canada.

Nick Molnar, co-founder and North American chief executive officer at Afterpay told the media, “As millions of consumers across the world turn to e-commerce to shop for everything they need in their life, the time has never been better to give Canadians the ability to use their own money and pay over time – instead of turning to expensive loans with interest, fees or revolving debt.”

“We are thrilled and honoured to partner with some of the best Canadian brands to bring our service to this important market, and help deliver new customers and increased sales to our partners.”

The Melbourne-headquartered company has partnered with some of the best fashion, beauty and lifestyle brands and retailers in the Canadian market.

Its list of partners include Ardene, BikeExchange, Dermalogica, FragranceX.com, American Eagle, Herschel Supply, GOLI, Maëlys Cosmetics, Native Shoes, Nixon, Perfume.com, Huda Beauty,and Roots among many others.

Founded in 2017, the online shopping boom has helped transform Afterpay into one of Australia’s 20 most valuable stocks. It shares have soared more than 10 times in the last six months.

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Other investors that also participated in the funding round for BukuKas include Speedinvest, S7V, January Capital and Cambium Grove Capital.

According to the startup, it will use the funds to expand its product offerings and also develop a stronghold in Indonesia.

Small and medium-sized businesses form the backbone of Indonesia’s economy and many of these businesses still run their book using traditional methods involving pen and paper. The BukuKas app provides a book-keeping solution that can record sales, expenses, accounts receivable, and debt.

The app also provides visibility banking on which businesses can actively improve their business processes.

So far, BukuKas has raised around $12 million in separate funding rounds.

Founder at BukuKas Krishnan M Menon told the media, “The speed at which BukuKas has grown in the last eight months since launch has shown us that more than ever, Indonesian small businesses are ready to go digital. About 73 per cent of merchants are outside of tier-1 cities today — and very few products and services are built for them. BukuKas is committed to reaching them, they are the real Indonesia, the spine of our economy. And helping them prosper is our only goal.”

Established in 2019 by Krishnan M Menon and Lorenzo Peracchione, BukuKas has partnered with around 900,000 small businesses so far and the app is used in over 700 cities and districts across Indonesia.

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KoinWorks is an online P2P financing platform for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Indonesia.

The funding round for KoinWorks was led by a UK-based lending platform called Lendable.

With regard to the new funding, KoinWorks co-founder Benedicto Haryono told the media, “As a company that focuses on productive sector funding, KoinWorks will aim to strengthen digital SMEs in Indonesia, with the support of thousands of retail lenders and other financial institutions that have been working together with KoinWorks to boost the growth of digital SMEs, particularly during this pandemic.”

KoinWork’s platform helps borrowers connect to suitable lenders who can fulfil their needs.

Since its inception, the startup has raised various programmes to support SMEs in the region. It launched a microsite that involved public, brands, and media to donate their social media pages to promote products offered by SMEs.

Most recently, the startup completed a donation programme, called KoinDonasi, for test kits and genetic research upon a vaccine for the novel coronavirus.

Last month, KoinWorks secured around $20 million in a funding round from Quona Capital. Other existing investors such as Triodos Bank, EV Growth, and Saison Capital also participated in the last month’s funding round.

According to KoinWorks, it currently has 400,000 users in its platform, with almost 220,000 lenders.

The company is growing, and closing a round in ‘corona times’ says a lot. We feel confident that we can support Indonesia as it makes its way through the COVID-changed economy. We strive to provide the best financial service for all our users, ” Benedicto Haryono added.

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The investors who participated in the funding round for WeLab include Alibaba Hong Kong Entrepreneurs Fund and China Construction Bank.

With regard to the funding round, Simon Loong, founder and group COO at WeLab told the media, “This financing will be used to further develop and broaden our platform as a fintech enabler. Further investment in technology research and development will enable us to apply these innovative technologies around the region and roll out additional products and services for our customers to provide holistic financial services digitally.”

He added, “With technological advancement, fintech has gradually been integrated into our daily lives over the last decade, transforming the traditional world of banking as we know it. 2020 marks the inflection point where the calls for supervision and governance are necessary, starting with regulated digital banks.”

WeLab is a virtual bank that uses risk management technology and AI to analyse unstructured mobile big data within seconds and provide financial services.

The startup received its licence from the Hong Kong Monetary Authority and is planning to launch WeLab bank in 2020. The fintech unicorn operates in Hong Kong, Indonesia, and China under different brand names.

In China, it operates under the brand name WeLab Digital and runs a microlending platform, while in Indonesia; it operates the Maucash brand which was launched through a joint venture with local conglomerate Astra International.

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