Indonesia’s Investree in talks to raise series C funding for regional expansion

Indonesia’s fintech peer-to-peer lending startup PT Investree Radhika Jaya is in talks with several investors to raise a series C funding as the firm looks to boost its expansion in Southeast Asia.

Photo credit: Farhan Perdana

Adrian Asharyanto Gunadi, co-founder and CEO of Investree, told KrAsia in a recent interview that his company has had conversations with some Asian investors from Japan, China, and South Korea, where the company targets to expand into.

“There are some [investors] who have issued non-disclosure agreements and now are in the process of due diligence. There are existing investors and new investors,” Gunadi told KrAsia, but declined to mention the investors’ names.

The funding is also aimed at supporting its business in Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Investree provides financing products and government bonds on its platform. The startup has distributed loans to the tune of around US$152 million in the first half of 2019, up almost 30% compared to the same period last year. Currently, its main investors are Indonesia’s Kejora Ventures and Japan’s SBI Holdings.

Gunadi believes that there is still a big potential of growth for fintech lending in the region, which still has an unmet credit demand of about US$165 billion, according to him.

In Thailand, Investree is now in the process of registering with Bank of Thailand (the local central bank) by the end of 2019. The company is setting up a joint venture, in which it will own 60%, with a local partner.

Meanwhile, in the Philippines, a country with less than 10 operative fintech P2P lending companies, Gunadi revealed that Investree is having “intensive discussions” with one of the conglomerates in the country and targets to start operations in early 2020.

“Hopefully, we can have a majority shareholder in the JV, in a way that Investree could also contribute to the business’ prospects,” he said.

In its home market of Indonesia, Gunadi said that Investree will seek more collaborations, either through a partnership with institutional lenders or by joining hands with companies that own distributors or supply chains.

This report was first published on KrAsia.