Deep Dive: The plight of Indonesia’s UangTeman

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Indonesian online lender UangTeman has had a tough few years.

Its name has been in and out of headlines since 2018, with stories either focusing on the company’s financial troubles or its apparent recovery.

But what’s at the core of UangTeman’s troubles? On this episode of Deep Dive, Tech in Asia journalist Putra Muskita discusses the embattled online lender’s current plight and whether it can pull itself back from the brink of collapse.

Timecodes:

00:00 – Intro music
00:46 – Today’s topic: The plight of Indonesia’s UangTeman
01:15 – When we first heard of UangTeman
02:27 – A notable US$12 million series A round
03:15 – Comparison with competitors
03:47 – When things took a turn for the worse
04:18 – Rapidly falling loan disbursement numbers
05:07 – Internal unhappiness with how the CEO was running UangTeman
05:45 – Reckless spending on marketing
06:19 – The problem that plagues the online lending space
06:55 – Productive loans versus consumptive loans
08:16 – Bouncing back with a series B round in 2019
10:47 – A suspiciously big (and expensive-looking) office
13:24 – When the loans stopped getting disbursed
14:58 – When the salaries stopped getting paid
15:58 – Employees’ troubles with social security and income tax
17:48 – Hopes for a white knight
20:13 – Challenges with finding a buyer
21:39 – Enter (and exit) IN Financial Technologies Holdings
23:27 – Seeking an extension for UangTeman’s OJK license
24:46 – Individual investors’ attempts to get their money back
29:21 – Where UangTeman stands now
30:53 – A lost cause for individual investors
32:35 – UangTeman loses its license

Featured reporters:

• Putra Muskita, a Tech in Asia journalist based in Jakarta

Essential reading:

• Exclusive: Indonesian online lender UangTeman had a rough 2018. Here’s what happened
• After a tough 2018, Indonesian online lender UangTeman looks to be bouncing back
• Indonesian online lender UangTeman raises $10m in series B round
• UangTeman on the brink of collapse, pins hope on white knight
• Troubled UangTeman finds potential buyer, seeks OJK license extension
• Investors in UangTeman struggle to claw back their money
• Indonesia’s UangTeman loses online lending license

Episode Transcript:

Nathaniel Fetalvero (VO):
Hello and welcome to Deep Dive, a show where we discuss the biggest headlines to hit the startup scene with the journalists who broke the stories.