These startups let you buy slices of a Bali villa for $1

For most Indonesians, the idea of investing in a luxury Bali villa or a Jakarta high-rise seems out of reach. After all, the country’s average monthly wage is only around US$200.

Jakarta-headquartered Goro is challenging that notion. The firm runs a blockchain-based fractional property investment platform that slices houses, condominiums, and villas into digital tokens priced as low as 10,000 rupiah (US$0.62). 

So far, the startup has attracted over 100,000 retail investors seeking passive income from real estate – a market long dominated by the wealthy.

One of Bali villas that Goro tokenizes and sells through its platform / Photo credit: Goro

The government has taken notice of this real-world asset tokenization trend. Now Financial Services Authority (OJK) oversees Indonesia’s first regulatory sandbox for property tokenization, of which Goro is a part. 

That said, the sandbox means there are still legal ambiguities to owning these tokens. Until that resolves, the space needs to prove if it is solving a real problem, or is merely a niche experiment.

Not crypto

At its core, Goro’s model is similar to that of traditional real estate investment trusts (REITs). 

REITs pool a group of investors who want to put money into big buildings like malls and office towers without having to manage the properties themselves.

Similarly, Goro acquires properties directly and manages rentals end-to-end. However, the company does it through blockchain and with smaller-scale real estate: It buys apartments and villas in prime locations, tokenizes them using the ERC-1155 standard on Polygon’s blockchain, and sells the tokens through its own platform.

Co-founder and CEO Robert Hoving, who also runs a Bali-based property management firm, insists this isn’t crypto. 

“Our tokens don’t fluctuate. They’re basically like stablecoins,” he tells Tech in Asia.

See also: How GMI Cloud struck gold by pivoting from crypto to AI cloud biz 

On Goro’s platform, blockchain plays a supporting role rather than being the star of the show. Users see fiat transactions, property photos, and Airbnb reviews – not smart contracts, although they’re there for anyone who wants to dive deeper into the technicalities.

This doesn’t mean investors can’t sell their tokens, however. They can do so anytime but only to Goro and at their original price.

Invest, not own

Catching the bigger fish