Indonesian online lender Akulaku reports over 150% rise in H1 revenue

Akulaku, an Indonesia-based fintech firm, posted over a 150% rise in revenue for the first half of the year (H1 2021), bolstered by a swift recovery in its alternative credit business following a hit from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Photo credit: Akulaku

Akulaku CEO William Li told Tech in Asia that the company has been profitable over the last few quarters after breaking even in the first quarter of 2019.

The company’s revenue stood at US$274 million in H1 2021. The fintech firm expects that figure to grow by over 2.5x by the end of the year to hit the US$600 million mark. However, details regarding the company’s bottom line remain undisclosed.

Akulaku’s strong growth in the half-year was fueled by growth in its buy now, pay later (BNPL) business, which brought in a majority of the company’s income during the period. Revenue from the BNPL service and the firm’s cash loan volume both more than doubled from a year ago.

As a result, the company’s total disbursed loans also grew more than 2x to about US$1 billion during the first half of 2021. Akulaku expects this figure to reach US$2.3 billion by the end of the year.

Photo credit: Akulaku

Founded in 2016, the fintech firm operates in Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, and Malaysia. In addition to a virtual credit card service and an ecommerce platform, the company operates Asetku, a peer-to-peer (P2P) lending unit.

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“During the first two months of the pandemic, there was a lot of panic in the market. People are now adapting to the ‘new normal’ and have changed their mindsets as well, bringing in fresh foreign investment,” Li told Tech in Asia.

In the first half of the year, Akulaku’s user base grew by 93% from a year ago to a total of 7 million monthly active users. It expects an additional 5.5 million monthly active users to come aboard its platform by the end of 2021.