Bukalapak partners three P2P lenders to provide loans for offline businesses

Bukalapak is teaming up with Indonesian P2P lending startups Amartha, Modalku, and PohonDana to provide loan facilities in a program called Modal Mitra. The loans are available to offline vendors who are part of the company’s Mitra Bukalapak program.

“We want to provide convenience to small businesses who want to develop their business with Bukalapak,” said Sigit Suryawan, associate vice president of financing solution at Bukalapak. “Modal Mitra can be used by vendors as additional capital to purchase inventory, thus increasing the volume and variety of their goods.”

The financing offered through Modal Mitra ranges between US$70 and US$700 and can be paid back in up to six months, with weekly installments starting from US$6. It can only be used for purchases in the Mitra Bukalapak app.

Bukalapak, which became Indonesia’s latest unicorn early last year, launched Mitra Bukalapak (or “Bukalapak partner” in Indonesian) in late 2017. Through the program, the company lets small offline businesses sell Bukalapak-powered digital goods (phone credits, train tickets, electricity tokens) to offline customers and purchase inventory through the Mitra Bukalapak app.

The company claims that more than 500,000 small businesses have participated in the program since its inception.

The news comes on the heels of digital payments startup Ovo’s recent acquisition of P2P lending startup Taralite. Tokopedia, Indonesia’s other ecommerce unicorn, is part of the Ovo ecosystem.