Mapping the Indonesian fintech players navigating a tech winter

This is an updated version of the article that was first published on March 19, 2021. Since then, we’ve added several new startups and new funding rounds to the list.

In the last few years, numerous startups have emerged in the Indonesian fintech landscape despite the decline in investor funding since the industry’s peak in 2021.

These include companies like social commerce enabler Orderfaz and credit scoring firm Skorlife, which launched in 2023 and 2022, respectively.

Annual investments into Indonesia-based fintech firms surpassed US$1 billion in 2021 and 2022, but this fell sharply last year amid a global macroeconomic slowdown.

Between 2021 and 2023, the payments, lending, brokerage, and insurtech segments attracted the most money within fintech. However, as funding into the sector fell across the board, only the lending and insurtech sectors held up, mirroring the broader trends in Southeast Asia.

See also: SEA fintech sector hits funding slump in H1 23, but insurtech holds up

2023 was dominated by two large deals. One of these was the US$206 million deal between P2P platform Amartha and the International Finance Corporation. The other was the US$220 million acquisition of Home Credit Indonesia by Thailand-based Bank of Ayudhya and financing firm Adira Finance, which are both under the MUFG Group.

Finture, which operates the buy now, pay later platform Yup, also beat the funding slump, securing US$20 million in July 2023 from investors including Chinese investment firm XVC. Meanwhile, Kredivo Holdings, which operates BNPL firm Kredivo and Krom Bank Indonesia, raised US$270 million in a series D round led by Japan’s Mizuho Bank in March 2o23.

That said, the country’s BNPL firms have had their own share of troubles. In October 2023, Indonesia’s Financial Services Authority (OJK) limited Akulaku’s operations after the BNPL firm allegedly violated the supervisory obligations required by the government agency.

See also: BNPL’s future on a knife-edge as ZestMoney averts shutdown

Akulaku was not the only firm that came under scrutiny. UangTeman, the troubled online lender, was investigated last year for alleged income tax evasion. The firm stopped offering loans beginning in late 2020.

Consistently high default rates in the country’s peer-to-peer lending space have prompted stricter regulations, including a maximum limit on how much interest rates firms can charge.

Several fintech firms have also had ambitions to IPO, but these players have faced roadblocks. P2P lender Akseleran, which intended to list on the Indonesian Stock Exchange in August 2023, postponed its plans after it failed to find the right strategic investor.

Focus on fintech giants