Deep Dive: Stripe’s rough road into Indonesia

Over the past year, financial services major Stripe has been stepping up its efforts to enter the Indonesian market, targeting key positions for early hires. Among them is former Grab Indonesia executive director Ongki Kurniawan, who’s now leading Stripe’s charge in the country.

John Collision (left) and Patrick Collison, co-founders of Stripe / Photo credit: Stripe

However, Indonesia is bustling with ambitious, freshly funded fintech players such as Xendit, Doku, and Gojek’s Midtrans, and this could make Stripe’s foray into the Southeast Asian archipelago all the more challenging.

In this episode of Deep Dive, Tech in Asia’s Ardi Wirdana discusses the payment giant’s Indonesia ambitions, the hurdles it faces in establishing a foothold in the market, and the impact that Stripe could have on the local fintech scene.

Timecodes:

00:00 – Intro music
00:48 – Today’s topic: Stripe’s Indonesia entry
01:53 – When Stripe set its eyes on Indonesia
03:53 – Why Stripe didn’t enter the market sooner
05:40 – What Stripe has done since reaching Indonesia’s shores
10:33 – The crowded Indonesian fintech space
13:51 – Low margins in the payments business
15:56 – How Indonesia is different from the other countries Stripe is in
17:21 – What Stripe needs to do to gain a foothold in Indonesia
18:30 – Have other global payment companies achieved what Stripe is aiming for?
20:26 – Are local players worried about Stripe?

Download the full transcript here.

Featured reporter:

• Ardi Wirdana, a Tech in Asia journalist based in Indonesia

Essential reading:

• Stripe readies Indonesia entry, but the road just got rougher
• Indonesia fintech hits hurdle with new rules on foreign control

Episode sponsor:

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