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Gabriel Budi Sutrisno · · 2 min readExclusive: Modalku, Carro invest in Indonesia’s Bank Index, sources say
Indonesia’s Modalku – a digital financing platform for MSMEs – and used-car platform Carro have invested a “small minority stake” in Jakarta-based Bank Index, multiple sources confirmed to Tech in Asia.
The news comes a week after Modalku and its Singapore counterpart Funding Societies announced a US$144 million series C funding led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2. Modalku CEO Reynold Wijaya said that the company plans to use part of the money for its neobank ambitions.
Tech in Asia has reached out to Modalku and Carro for comment.
Funding Societies/Modalku co-founders Reynold Wijaya (L) and Kelvin Teo (R) / Photo credit: Funding Societies
Singapore-headquartered Carro, which operates in several countries across Southeast Asia, has also made moves in the digital banking space. The company recently invested in Indonesia’s Bank Allo, along with ecommerce unicorn Bukalapak and local conglomerate Salim Group.
See also: Behind Bukalapak’s entry into Indonesia’s digital banking race
Modalku and Carro share at least one investor: Alpha JWC Ventures. Eko Kurniadi, a partner at the VC firm, was previously the vice president of investment at private equity company Creador Capital, which in turn owns about 20% of Bank Index.
That said, it’s unclear whether Alpha JWC Ventures was involved in this deal. Tech in Asia has asked the VC firm for comment.
Bank Index’s majority owner is a company called Kazanah Indexindo. The bank, which is almost three decades old, reported 367 billion rupiah (US$255.6 million) in revenue and 90 billion rupiah (US$6.3 million) in profits for 2018.
Digital banking has quickly become one of Indonesia’s hottest sectors. Apart from banking incumbents like BRI, tech giants like Shopee, GoTo, and Grab are active in the space. Startups like FinAccel have also recently joined the fray.
Editing by Putra Muskita and Eileen C. Ang
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Modalku joins a growing list of Indonesian startups that recently made moves in digital banking.
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