Jofie Yordan · · 2 min readIndonesia’s Akseleran lays off 60 employees after delaying IPO
Ivan Nikolas Tambunan, co-founder and CEO of Akseleran / Photo credit: Akseleran
Akseleran, an Indonesian peer-to-peer lending firm, has laid off around 60 employees after postponing its IPO, which was initially scheduled for August 9 on the Indonesia Stock Exchange.
Ivan Nikolas Tambunan, the CEO and co-founder of Akseleran, told Tech in Asia that this restructuring would ensure the company is in an “optimal condition” to operate, as well as drive long-term growth and maintain financial health. In other words, it is “not a shortcut,” he said.
According to the company’s prospectus, Akseleran’s revenues surged 80% in 2022. The firm also reduced its losses from 30 billion rupiah (US$2 million) in 2021 to 22 billion rupiah (US$1.4 million) in 2022.
However, its unaudited losses jumped 127% in the month of January 2023 compared to the same period in the previous year. Even so, Tambunan emphasized that the company is on track to achieve profitability by the fourth quarter of this year.
Previously, Akseleran had conducted a public expose on July 3 before deciding to shelve its IPO plans. The company now targets an IPO in June 2024, as “it takes longer for us to secure the right strategic investor” in the current market conditions, said the CEO.
The company said that in December 2022, it had a non-performing loan rate of 0.41%. It last raised funding in 2020 with a US$8.6 million series A round.
An IPO may be attractive in the current climate as Indonesian startups get hit by funding woes. But that is perhaps easier said than done – aside from Akseleran, fellow fintech company FinAccel and online travel giant Traveloka both put off their public listing plans last year.
More recently, fintech company DigiAsia said in April that it was planning an IPO in Q2 2023. It’s unclear whether that timeline remains on track.
See also: As funding drops, will Indonesian startups turn to IPOs instead?
Currency converted from Indonesian rupiah to US dollar: US$1 = 15,018.00 rupiah.
Editing by Patrick Arya and Dhania Putri Sarahtika
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