IPO-bound Akulaku turns 🦄 with $100m raise from Siam Commercial Bank

Indonesian fintech firm Akulaku has raised US$100 million in a series E round from Thailand-based Siam Commercial Bank (SCB). After the round, Akulaku’s valuation rose to between US$1.5 billion and US$2 billion, and the firm entered the unicorn club, a source close to the company told Tech in Asia.

The company raised US$125 million in funding last year. Its digital banking arm, Bank Neo Commerce, also completed a rights issue to raise US$175 million in the last quarter of 2021.

Photo credit: Akulaku

Founded in 2016, Akulaku operates buy now, pay later service through a virtual credit card offering and partnerships with ecommerce platforms. It also run a peer-to-peer lending unit called Asetku and has entered digital banking space by acquiring a local bank in 2019.

Besides its home base of Indonesia, the company has expanded its service to Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vietnam. The fresh funding will be used to fuel the startup’s expansion in Indonesia, Thailand, and other Southeast Asian countries.

In 2021, Akulaku disbursed more than US$2.2 billion in credit – 2x of what it lent the previous year – to over 6 million users. The firm’s digital banking arm also launched an app in March 2021, and currently has more than 13 million users.

During the first half of 2021, the firm posted a revenue of US$274 million, a 150% surge compared with the same period in 2020.

The source added that the company had hit the US$600 million revenue mark in 2021, as it had forecast. Half the startup’s revenue came from BNPL and the other half from cash loans.

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Earlier this year, Akulaku was reportedly in talks for a US listing this year via a merger with Catcha Investment Corp, a special purpose acquisition company set up by Patrick Grove, Catcha group’s co-founder. Akulaku is expected to raise between US$200 million and US$300 million in the process.