Aditya Hadi Pratama · · 2 min readYC, Alpha JWC pour $5.2m into influencer-focused fintech firm
UpBanx, an Indonesia-based fintech startup, has raised a US$5.2 million pre-seed round that was led by Y Combinator, Alpha JWC Ventures, Alto Partners, Number Capital, UBI Capital, creator networks Collab Asia and Digital Rantai Maya (DRM), as well as local influencers Raffi Ahmad and Nagita Slavina.
The investment raises UpBanx’s valuation to US$120 million and makes it the fastest startup to reach the figure in Indonesia, according to the firm.
UpBanx founders (from left) Hendri Wijaya, Wafa Taftazani, and Alif Jafar Fatkhurrohman / Photo credit: UpBanx
The company, which begun operations in June 2021, is a platform that aims to help content creators, artists, and freelance workers get discovered, and also manages their workflow and finances.
For now, it is an invite-only platform that allows users to open a business account to store their earnings. In March 2022, UpBanx will release discoverability, workflow management, and financing features. The company looks to let users launch their digital assets and raise funding from investors by 2023.
“It’s like a combination of creator-focused credit card firm Karat, the Singapore-based financial solution for content creators Friz, and creator management platform Grin, in a single place,” UpBanx CEO Wafa Taftazani told Tech in Asia.
Taftazani, a former executive at Shopee and Google, founded UpBanx with Hendri Wijaya and Alif Jafar Fatkhurrohman. The company currently has 15 employees, most of whom are in its tech division.
The startup plans to use the fresh funds to accelerate its product development and business growth by leveraging its network of investors, especially Y Combinator, Raffi Ahmad, and Nagita Slavina.
Other investors in this round include:
- Angel investor Oliver Jung
- Horizons Ventures’ investment director Frances Kang
- Fazz Financial Group co-founder Hendra Kwik
- Modal Rakyat co-founder Hendoko Kwik
- Xfers co-founder Tianwei Liu
- Shipper co-founder Budi Handoko
- Verihubs co-founders Rick Firnando and Williem
- Spenmo founder Mohandass Kalaichelvan
- Collab Asia’s vice president Jerry Soer
- Prasetia Dwidharma founder Arya Setiadharma
Editing by Miguel Cordon and Arpit Nayak
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