Digital investing startups are shaking up Indonesia

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Hello readers,

You can do this, Indonesia! Your economy is set to experience a boom in this decade. While that’s good news, the country’s financial literacy and inclusion are still lagging behind its peers in Southeast Asia. According to the country’s Financial Services Authority (OJK), only 38% of the population were considered financially literate as of 2019. And that’s where fintech startups are stepping up.

Today, we’ll look at,

• Digital investing assets in Indonesia
• How India lost Chinese investors but gained interest from other countries
• Other newsy highlights such as Xpeng’s new flying car and a cybersecurity breach at a Singapore-based cryptocurrency exchange

With great numbers come great financial responsibility

It looks like millennials in Indonesia still prefer to invest via traditional banks. But the rise of ecommerce and fintech companies are providing more options for the internet generation.

• All that glitters is gold: This precious metal is loved by me and you and everyone we know. And thanks to digitalization, investing in gold just takes a few clicks and as little as US$ 0.007. Many big-name tech companies in Indonesia are already providing this service: Gojek, Bukalapak and Tokopedia.
• Lend me a dime: Peer-to-peer lending is hot in the country. Total lending has grown 153.2% year on year, reaching US$7.7 billion in June 2020. The amount of credit disbursed by P2P lenders is also expected to hit US$29 billion by 2023.
• Making small bets: Mutual funds are the first step in investing for most beginners. But in 2019, less than 1% of Indonesia’s population had invested in such funds. Fintech players like Bareksa are tackling this: It teamed up with Bukalapak and Tokopedia to enable users to invest in a mutual fund with just US$0.70 on their smartphone.

Read more: Indonesia’s fintech startups are gaining momentum

India: Goodbye, China! Hello, everybody else!

India’s tech companies are popular among Chinese investors: 18 out of 30 its homegrown unicorns are at least partly funded by Chinese VCs. But with souring political relations between the two countries, Indian startups are looking elsewhere for new buddies.

• The tiny red dot: When food delivery unicorn Zomato failed to receive US$50 million from Jack Ma’s Ant Group, it turned to Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund Temasek instead and raised US$62 million.
• Go west: US investors have been very active in India’s tech space since 2010, and their involvement will likely increase. Some companies have already whipped out their wallets: Google announced its US$10 billion India-focused fund in July, and Sequoia Capital recently launched a US$1.35 billion fund for the Indian and Southeast Asian markets.
• More is needed: India will need a lot more funds than ever before, as the number of newly incorporated startups grew from 460 in the first half of 2019 to 551 this year.

Quick bytes

1️⃣ Xpeng unveils flying car