Indonesia’s Amartha, IFC to invest $206m in women-led MSMEs

Photo credit: Amartha

Amartha, an Indonesian peer-to-peer lending platform, has partnered with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) to provide working capital to women-led MSMEs in the country. The online lender has secured funding amounting to 3 trillion rupiah (US$206 million).

While the deal will help Amartha expand its international investor base, the company also looks to narrow the gap of access to digital financial products in Indonesia.

“The financing gap faced by female entrepreneurs in Indonesia – who are crucial to the overall economy – only widened because of Covid-19, which saw women overwhelmingly bear the load of greater domestic and childcare pressures,” said Riccardo Puliti, IFC’s regional vice president for Asia and the Pacific.

Also aiming to address regional disparities, Amartha will allocate over 70% of the funding to entrepreneurs beyond the Java island.

Amartha, which has raised over US$185 million to date, connects investors with female microentrepreneurs seeking funds to grow their businesses. Loans begin at 1,500,000 rupiah (US$100).

Recently, it also teamed up with Grab-backed Superbank for the latter to provide working capital loans to women entrepreneurs.

See also: Abrupt removal of loan insurance on Amartha frustrates lenders