Category: English

English articles about technology startup, ecosystem, and industry in Indonesia

SIRCLO Acquires Orami, to Advance Omnichannel Services

E-commerce enabler startup SIRCLO today (07/4) announced its acquisition over Orami digital parenting platform. The value is not disclosed, but the objective is to combine the strengths of both services to provide end-to-end digital services and brand developers.

The agreement combines two companies that have served more than 100 thousand brands from the MSME to corporate scale, and reaches millions of consumers in 34 provinces in Indonesia.

In addition, this action will combine nearly 1000 employees; Orami will continue to operate as an independent entity integrated with the SIRCLO service. Ferry Tenka (CEO Orami) will take on a new position as SIRCLO’s Chief Marketing Officer and Hendrawan Kartika (President Orami) as SIRCLO’s Chief Financial Officer.

“This corporate act can expand services offered by SIRCLO for brand owners intend to enter the online market. Orami has an online shopping site that facilitates well-known brands in selling products for mother and child needs. In fact, we have a mission to join forces in helping brands selling online in a more strategic, scalable and efficient manner,” SIRCLO’s Founder & CEO, Brian Marshal said.

Meanwhile, Orami’s Co-Founder & CEO, Ferry Tenka added, “We see this synergy as a very big opportunity to accelerate Orami’s growth, and at the same time, to accommodate the needs of brands and consumers. Orami’s ability to reach consumers broadly is in line with SIRCLO’s operation as an e-commerce enabler with a strong infrastructure and retail network. There are so many extraordinary potentials to explore.”

Super parenting app orami yang diluncurkan awal tahun ini / Orami
Orami’s super parenting app was launched earlier this year / Orami

In line with the increasing traction of online shopping services, earlier this year, Orami announced application upgrade by releasing various features to make easy purchases. In addition, they also claimed themselves as a parenting super app with three main business pillars: commerce, content, and community. The aim is to present a comprehensive application to meet the needs of mothers and children.

Orami was founded in 2013 by Ferry Tenka, Eka Himawan, and Shannon Kalayanamitr. Its business is supported by a series of investors, including SMDV, East Ventures, Gobi Partners, Velos Partners and Ardent Capital.

SIRCLO alone was founded in the same year, 2013. They currently helping brand developers sell online through a variety of solutions, such as SIRCLO Store for MSMEs and SIRCLO Commerce for corporations. In 2020, SIRCLO recorded four times jump in transactions which was supported by changes in consumer behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic. At the end of 2020 they claimed to have achieved profitability and booked a combined turnover of IDR 3.3 trillion.

Last August 2020, SIRCLO has secured series B funding of $6 million. Investors involved in this round include East Ventures, OCBC NISP Ventura, Skystar Capital, and Sinar Mas Land.

Meanwhile, another strategic action that the company has taken is to merge with ICUBE, an e-commerce technology solution provider agency, aiming to expand the various business offered to brands.

Perjalanan bisnis SIRCLO / SRICLO
SIRCLO’s business journey

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Original article is in Indonesian, translated by Kristin Siagian

Application Information Will Show Up Here

VariousDigital Solutions for SME Players

Recently, digitization for SME is getting intense to create competitiveness amidst the economic challenges caused by the pandemic. Startups are using this huge business cake by presenting various digital solutions through all aspects, fintech, supply chain, logistics, e-commerce, marketing, and others.

In order to present the bigger picture, DailySocial describes the players in each segment. Here’s the summary:

Ragam layanan SaaS untuk UMKM / DailySocial
SaaS services for SMEs / DailySocial

A. Go Digital

1. E-commerce enabler: omnichannel, commerce site builder

        The existence of a brand on an online platform is quite an obligation to be recognized by many people nowadays. These e-commerce enabler players usually present various solutions according to their business stages to facilitate the overall migration process, starting from online store creation services and synchronizing sales to various marketplaces and online shop sites in one dashboard.

The larger the business scale, the more complex the e-commerce solution. For example, when you want to implement an omnichannel strategy or need a supply chain system to help the logistics process, you need experts and the right solution. Some of the players are:

      • Omnichannel:
        – Sirclo
        – Jet Commerce
        – PowerCommerce
        – iSeller
      • Commerce site builder:
        – Sirclo
        – aCommerce
        – ForStok
        – Egogo Hub
        – Intrepid22. On demand services: online delivery, online order

This on-demand service is generally dominated by the culinary sector, which is fully supported by GrabFood and GoFood. By combining the strength of the driver’s fleet and some culinary business, the food delivery service is increasingly booming in Indonesia.

Apart from offering easy access and delivery, there are many digital solutions for MSMEs, such as marketing solutions, payments, inventory, financial records, and so on. We divided these solutions into two parts, as follows:

      • Online delivery:
        – GoBiz
        – GrabMerchant
      • Online order:
        – DigiResto
        – Mangan.id

3. Online marketplace: B2B, B2C, partnership

The presence of the e-commerce platform creates an impact as it’s easier for MSMEs to reach many new users. With the whole ecosystem prepared for the e-commerce players, it is expected that more MSMEs will take advantage of this opportunity to expand their business. Here are the players:

      • B2B:
        – Ralali
        – Bhinneka
      • B2C:
        – Shopee
        – Tokopedia
        – Bukalapak
      • Partnership:
        – Mitra Tokopedia
        – Mitra Bukalapak
        – Mitra Shopee
        – Blibli Mitra
        – GrabKios

4. Social commerce

Amid the efforts of e-commerce players to encourage more MSMEs to enter their platforms, MSMEs are keen to sell through social media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook. This application is considered more personal as it can directly interact with consumers.

The enthusiasm of MSMEs to join social media does not immediately subside, in fact, it is getting increased. The social commerce players are using the big opportunity by offering easy sales via short message applications and social media. The players are quite diverse:

– Woobiz
– Storie
– Chilibeli
– RateS
– Super
– Desty
– Halosis
– Qios by Kata.ai
– GoStore by Gojek
– Kitabeli
– Evermos

B. Financial

1. Loan: working capital, supply chain

In order for MSMEs to grow continuously, they need capital loans from conventional financial institutions. However, as their business is unbankable, there are difficulties in accessing loans. Fintech lending players are trying to solve this issue, not only providing working capital, another form of which is being provided is supply chain loans. The players include:

        • Working capital
          – Amartha
          – Modalku
          – Investree
          – KoinWorks
          – Akseleran
          – Modal Rakyat
        • Supply Chain:
          – AwanTunai
          – Crowdo
        • Crowdfunding:
          – Santara
          – Bizhare
          -CrowdDana
          – LandX

2. Payment : e-money, payment gateway, POS

Payment players are paying attention to the sustainability of MSMEs to be connected to various payment methods, adjusting to the latest conditions. The presence of the POS application is also considered very helpful for MSMEs as this all-in-one application does not only function to record finances. There are many players in this segment:

  • E-money:
    – LinkAja
    – OVO
    – DANA
    – GoPay
    – ShopeePay
  • Payment gateway:
    – Cashlez
    – Midtrans
    – DOKU
    – Xendit
    – iPaymu
    – Finpay
  • POS:
    – Jubelio
    – Majoo
    – Qasir
    – Kasir Pintar
    – YouTap
    – Moka
    – Cashlez
    – Pawoon
    – iSeller
    – Olsera

3. Tax

Although it still in the MSME stage, taxation should not be taken lightly. There are several players in this sector trying to invite business owners to comply as taxpayers as soon as possible. The services provided start from the payment process, reporting, and tax management. Some of the players are:

– KlikPajak (Mekari)
– OnlinePajak
– HiPajak
– Pajak.io

4. API Enabler

When businesses have rapidly grow, the digital solutions needed will continue to follow the needs. API enabler players are here to answer these needs, especially in the financial-related field. They provide integrated solutions in one API, for payment, financial and banking services, therefore, businesses can add value to their customers. Here are some of the players:

– Ayoconnect
– Finantier
– Brankas
– Brick

C. Marketing: email marketing, influencer marketing

SMEs should also pay attention to marketing strategies to acquire consumers with existing budgets. Simple marketing via social media platforms or short messages is not necessarily enough. Therefore, there are players in this sector who specifically help MSMEs to market their products:

  • Email marketing: MTarget
  • Influencer marketing: Allstar

D. Operational

1. Accounting: micro-small, medium-large

The biggest reason why MSMEs are unbankable is due to poor financial management, they still use manual recording, making it difficult to see how the business is progressing or is it actually experiencing loss. Therefore, the existence of special software is clearly required. Here’s a list of startup players who present financial management solutions:

  • Micro-Small:
    – Credibook
    – BukuKas
    – Moodah
    – BukuWarung
    – Akuntansi UKM
    – Akun.biz
    – Lababook
    – Teman Bisnis
    – Akuntansiku
    – Kasvlo
    – Kasir Pintar
    – Majoo
    – KODI
    – Paper.id
  • Medium-Large:
    – Jubelio
    – Jurnal (Mekari)
    – Jojonomics
    – Accurate
    – Zahir

2. HR Management: HRIS, employee benefit, field worker management, productivity & collaboration tools

As MSMEs grow, it will face advanced challenges. One that is often highlighted is the human resources management, from payroll, attendance, annual leave, reimbursement, and so on. It takes the presence of a software to help make it quick and efficient. Here are some startups that focus on providing HR management:

  • HRIS:
    – Catapa
    – Talenta (Mekari)
    – Jojonomics
    – KaryaOne
    – Gadjian
    – Gaji.id
    – Benemica
    – Synergo
  • Employee benefit:
    – Payuung
  • Field worker management:
    – JARI
    – Lacak.io
  • Productivity & collaboration tools

E. Business Growth: CRM, ERP, loyalitas, Environment Health Safety (EHS)

In order for the company to continue to survive, it requires a business development strategy that does not only focus on product expansion, but how the company can maintain relationships with customers. It has to do with CRM. Another thing is the ERP solution when the business starts become real.

ERP solutions are not only for the enterprise level, it’s also gaining popularity at the SME level because of the benefits. For example, purchasing raw materials, maintaining network with other companies, and managing job descriptions for workers.

The objectives of CRM and ERP are interrelated for the development of the company’s business, there are also other supporting elements that startups should take seriously. Here are the players who focus on business development services:

  • CRM:
    – Jala.ai
    – Qontak
    – Majoo
    – Digiresto
    – Smartlink
    – Jojonomics
  • ERP:
    – Runsystem
    – Esensi Solusi Buana (ESB)
    – Genie
  • Loyalitas:
    – TADA
  • Environment Health Safety (EHS):
    – Nimbly

F. Logistics: Transportation management, warehouse, warehouse management system (WMS), 3PL aggregator, last mile logistics

Logistics is essential for the MSME business as it’s going digital related to service to consumers. Moreover, Indonesia’s logistics issues are still a handful. Various logistics players who are specialists in their respective fields offer solutions for MSMEs:

  • Manajemen transportasi:
    – Mile.app
    – Advotics
    – Waresix
    – Kargo
  • Pergudangan:
    – Shipper
    – Crewdible
    – Pakde
    – LODI
  • Warehouse management system (WMS):
    – Jubelio
    – Genie
    – Mile.app
    – Anchanto
    – Advotics
    – Waresix
    – Pakde
  • 3PL agregator:
    – Shipper
    – Paket.id
  • Supply chain:
    – Ula
  • Last mile logistics:
    – Paxel
    – Ninja Express
    – SiCepat
    – Anteraja
    – JNE
    – TIKI
    – Pos Indonesia
    – Wahana

G. Legal

As the MSMEs getting more developed, it requires preparation for legality in order to become a legal entity. However, as the legal language is difficult for common people to understand, the existence of startups in this field to provide assistance is needed. The startups in this segment are:

– Legalku
– Lexar
– Izin.co.id
– HukumOnline

H. Software/IOT

MSMEs are not always about businesses engaged in services or trade, but also fisheries, livestock, and others that need digital solutions to help develop their businesses. Generally, the solutions presented for this sector are in the form of smart devices powered by IoT. This tool operates many tasks, one of which is to provide automatic feed for a successful harvest in the future. The players in this sector are:

– eFishery
– Jala.ai

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Original article is in Indonesian, translated by Kristin Siagian
Foto header: Depositphotos.com

The Gravity of Multifinance Services Acquired by Tech Startups

Atome acquired PT Mega Finadana Finance (currently PT Atome Finance Indonesia), adding up to the fintech lending companies seeking to expand, especially in the consumer goods financing sector.

Prior to Atome, Kredivo has acquired PT Swarna Niaga Finance (currently PT FinAccel Finance Indonesia). Apart from fintech companies, Traveloka has acquired PT Malacca Trust Finance (currently PT Caturnusa Sejahtera Finance) to operate Traveloka Paylater.

In an official statement, Atome Financial Indonesia’s CEO, Wawan Salum said, “This acquisition is a proof of our commitment to grow our business in Indonesia, aiming to serve our partners and consumers better in providing customized financing and loan options.”

Since 2017, Atome Financial has established partnerships with some of the world’s leading financial institutions providing more than $200 million in funding and credit facilities to promote financial inclusion.

Wawan claimed, the company has cumulatively served more than 5 million users and has provided loans of more than $1 billion to empower merchants and consumers. “This acquisition will not only accelerate our rapid business expansion, but also contribute to a stronger and healthier lending and financing ecosystem in Indonesia,” he added.

DailySocial asks some follow-up questions to Wawan, but he has not written back to the date this article published.

In a general note, Atome Financial has two main business units, Atome and Kredit Pintar. Both are engaged in loan services, the difference lies in the function. Atome provides BNPL services with 0% interest payment options for three or six months. Atome partners with several retail groups and e-commerce platforms, such as MAP (including Sephora, Zara, Mango, Pull & Bear, Marks & Spencer, Food Hall), JD.id, and iStyle.

Meanwhile, Kredit Pintar runs cash loans with a maximum of IDR20 million in cash ranging from three to one year. Funds are not only for productive needs, but also for daily needs.

The trend of acquiring multi-finance companies, for the Chairman of the Indonesian Finance Companies Association (APPI), Suwandi Wiratno, allows these players to reach more comprehensive loan and financing products.

He said Traveloka for instance, basically sell products and incapable to act as a financial company to provide credit to their consumers. In terms of platform, they only need to register with the Ministry of Communication and Information, unlike financial companies that should be strictly regulated by the OJK.

“Through Caturnusa, people who want to buy tickets, which used to be in cash, can now paid using installments up to 10 times. That’s because financing requires prospective debtors, they [Traveloka] come here because they see the potential, where not everyone has the ability to buy in cash,” he said to DailySocial.

The ability to mix products and the ability of companies to offer financing will provide a new approach. They can freely distribute multipurpose financing to many industrial sectors such as multi-finance companies in general and enter into financial services for vehicle, property, electronics, KTA, and others.

In terms of sources, they can rely on bank loans, by channeling or joint financing, issuing debt securities from MTN, bonds, on/offshore syndication, and IPOs.

“By bundling their current products with loans that are in accordance with regulations, they can offer a new approach,” Suwandi added.

Previously in contact with DailySocial, Kredivo Indonesia’s CEO, Alie Tan said, since the beginning, Kredivo’s financing scheme was dominated by product purchases at merchants, not cash loans, therefore, a multi-finance license is considered more suitable for Kredivo. “Thus, we hope to grow rapidly and serve 10 million users in the next few years,” she said.

Alie’s statement backed Kredivo’s Co-Founder, Akshay Gargthe previous statement that through multi-finance licenses, Kredivo’s loan distribution will be bigger and more developed. This license is considered more stable as the regulations was established long time ago. It states that it is also possible for financing companies to channel 30% of their financing to fintech lending.

After FinAccel, Kredivo’s holding company, announced the acquisition of PT Swarna Niaga Finance, the company took off with Samsung to provide Samsung Financing services. The offer is not much different. Consumers can use Kredivo’s installment for purchasing Samsung devices online or offline.

FinAccel did not immediately leave the lending business as they introduced Kredifazz (PT FinAccel Digital Indonesia) which focused on productive and consumptive loans. One of the loan products released by Kredifazz is Klop!, a consumptive loan for Telkomsel users.

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Original article is in Indonesian, translated by Kristin Siagian

Membedah Potensi Ekosistem Digital Indonesia di Masa Depan

Amazon Web Services (AWS) baru saja menerbitkan laporan berjudul: Unlocking APAC’s Digital Potential: Changing Digital Skill Needs and Policy Approaches, yang membahas tentang potensi pertumbuhan digital non-metropolitan di Indonesia. Dalam kesempatan yang sama, kami berkolaborasi dengan AWS mengadakan kegiatan webinar #StartupUntukNegeri seri kedua dengan tema: Mengembangkan startup Anda di luar metropolitan Indonesia, yang  akan berlangsung pada hari Selasa, 6 April 2021, pukul 7 malam melalui aplikasi Go To Webinar. Dalam kegiatan tersebut kami akan membahas secara langsung mengenai potensi besar startup Indonesia yang akan berkembang pesat di masa depan. 

Artikel ini merupakan hasil wawancara kami bersama Gunawan Susanto, Country General Manager AWS (Amazon Web Services), yang menelisik lebih dalam tentang hasil laporan tersebut terhadap kondisi ekonomi digital beberapa tahun ke depan 

***

Q: Dalam laporan terbaru yang diterbitkan oleh AWS ditemukan bahwa hanya 19% pekerja yang memiliki keterampilan digital. Sedangkan perekonomian membutuhkan lebih dari 110 juta pekerja digital di tahun 2025 dan dengan adanya persentase demikian, rata-rata pekerja Indonesia perlu untuk mengembangkan tujuh keterampilan digital dalam 5 tahun ke depan untuk mengimbangi kemajuan dan permintaan teknologi. 

 

  • Bagaimana Anda melihat pernyataan tersebut?
  • Apa peran AWS dalam mempercepat upaya pelatihan dalam membangun tenaga kerja di masa depan yang akan membantu memajukan visi 4.0 di Indonesia?

Dalam laporan yang diterbitkan, ditemukan 59% pekerja individu digital di Indonesia akan memenuhi persyaratan penuh di tahun 2025. Beberapa keterampilan digital yang berkembang pesat seperti, desain arsitektur cloud, keamanan siber, pemodelan data skala besar, pengembangan web/perangkat lunak/game, serta dukungan operasi perangkat lunak. 

Upaya yang bisa dilakukan adalah menjembatani kesenjangan keterampilan tersebut. AWS sendiri telah melakukan berbagai kegiatan untuk bisa meningkatkan keterampilan digital masyarakat di Indonesia. Termasuk berkolaborasi dengan lembaga pendidikan, organisasi industri, serta pemerintah,  menyediakan berbagai peluang pelatihan gratis, pelatihan kelas virtual dan tatap muka dengan tingkat dasar, menengah, dan lanjutan selama satu hingga bekerja sama dengan @Dicoding Indonesia di Cloud dan Program Beasiswa Pengembang Back-End, dengan tujuan membekali masyarakat Indonesia dengan keterampilan dan pengetahuan untuk mengisi dan memajukan profesi pengembang back-end di negara ini. Program ini terbuka untuk siswa, guru, dan masyarakat umum. Untuk informasi lebih lanjutnya, silakan kunjungi laman ini: https://aws.dicoding.com/

Q: Teknologi harus dapat diakses oleh semua orang. Baru-baru ini, Werner Vogels, CTO Amazon, dalam serial “Now go build”-nya berbicara tentang petani Indonesia. Seberapa besar peran teknologi dalam menangani beberapa masalah paling mendesak di Indonesia?

Di AWS, kami bekerja setiap hari dengan beberapa pendiri negara paling inovatif untuk mendukung mereka dalam membangun dan mengembangkan bisnis berbasis teknologi yang dirancang untuk memecahkan masalah yang penting bagi komunitas di seluruh negeri, dan mengatasi kesenjangan struktural yang menantang dalam kehidupan sehari-hari. Mereka melakukan ini dengan menerapkan teknologi untuk menciptakan akses baru dan model bisnis baru, dan tidak dibatasi oleh praktik tradisional. Di Amazon, kami menyebutnya Day 1 thinking – di mana kami melihat kemungkinan, daripada terbatas pada hal-hal yang telah dilakukan sebelumnya.

Kita bisa ambil contoh dari sektor pengiriman dan logistik yang berkembang pesat di Indonesia. Di kondisi yang penuh tantangan seperti sekarang, perusahaan rintisan seperti layanan pengiriman makanan, HappyFresh, membangun dan berinovasi di AWS Cloud untuk membantu memastikan pengiriman bahan makanan dan barang-barang penting yang nyaman. Selain itu, kita juga melihat bagaimana startup telehealth lokal seperti HaloDoc memanfaatkan AWS Cloud untuk memberikan akses yang lebih besar ke perawatan medis selama pandemi, semuanya online sehingga pengguna dapat berbicara dengan dokter dari rumah. Di AWS, kami berkomitmen untuk mendukung kemajuan ini, membantu para pembangun Indonesia untuk menciptakan perusahaan rintisan sukses yang memberi manfaat positif bagi masyarakat kami.

Q: Kami memiliki para profesional yang berpengalaman dalam korporat yang bersedia mengambil risiko dan mencoba sebuah startup. Dengan basis pengguna smartphone yang sangat besar, harga data kuota yang murah, ekonomi yang tumbuh, bagaimana Indonesia siap menghadapi gangguan digital? Akankah beberapa tahun ke depan kita akan melihat menjamurnya bisnis yang mengutamakan digital dan mereka akan menyusup ke setiap sektor ekonominya?

Tidak diragukan lagi kita sedang menuju masa transformasi digital yang belum pernah terjadi sebelumnya di seluruh lanskap bisnis Indonesia, dan tentunya kita akan terus melihat momentum ini dalam ekosistem startup domestik kita. Komputasi cloud telah menjadi alat bagi para founders di Indonesia untuk mewujudkan ide mereka dengan lebih cepat dan mudah. Sifat cloud yang hemat biaya berarti para pemula dapat bereksperimen dengan kecepatan yang lebih tinggi, gagal dengan cepat dengan dampak finansial yang rendah, dan pulih dengan mudah.

Silicon Valley VC, Marc Andreessen mengatakan bahwa AWS Cloud telah membantu meminimalisir biaya untuk menjalankan aplikasi menjadi $ 1.500 per bulan – perbedaan 100x, yang berarti lebih mudah daripada sebelumnya untuk meluncurkan teknologi bisnis. Cloud mengurangi risiko proses pertumbuhan dan memastikan perusahaan rintisan tidak perlu berinvestasi besar-besaran untuk mengantisipasi permintaan di masa mendatang.

Sejak awal, tujuan AWS adalah memungkinkan siapapun, dimana pun, mengakses skala dan struktur biaya yang sama dengan perusahaan terbesar di dunia. Kami percaya bahwa menyediakan layanan cloud yang andal untuk semua orang mampu mendemokrasikan inovasi dan memungkinkan ide atau model bisnis terbaik untuk menang – tidak harus yang memiliki sumber daya paling banyak di belakangnya.

Kami memiliki sejarah panjang dalam membantu memelihara startup seiring pertumbuhan mereka. Kami secara teratur bekerja dengan investor ventura (seperti Alpha JWC), inkubator, ruang kerja bersama, dan dalam sektor universitas untuk mengungkap startup yang baru muncul dan memberi mereka dukungan yang mereka butuhkan untuk berkembang.

AWS berinvestasi besar-besaran dalam pengembangan keterampilan untuk memastikan bahwa perusahaan rintisan memiliki akses ke sekumpulan orang berbakat dari berbagai latar belakang, dan kami bahkan menawarkan kursus pelatihan online gratis untuk pelanggan pemula kami tentang topik populer seperti Keterampilan Praktisi Cloud, Pembelajaran Mesin, dan IoT. Untuk semua alasan ini, kami sangat setuju bahwa Indonesia sedang memasuki era kemajuan digital yang luar biasa, dan AWS berkomitmen untuk mendukung pertumbuhan ide bisnis inovatif negara kami di semua industri.

Q: Apa saja pokok pembahasan penting dalam laporan Alpha JWC ini?

Salah satu poin kunci dalam laporan Alpha JWC adalah ini: Meskipun kekuatan ekonomi meningkat, kami mengamati bahwa kota-kota (T2 dan T3) ini ~ 3-5 tahun di belakang Tier 1 mereka dalam adopsi digital.

PDB Indonesia adalah $ 4,1rb – dua kali lipat dari pasar seperti India. Separuh populasinya berusia di bawah 30 tahun. Ia memiliki hampir 200 juta pengguna internet. Karena sebagian besar pengeluaran online telah didorong oleh konsumen Tingkat 1, bagaimana Anda semua melihat ekosistem berjalan dengan baik? Kebutuhan konsumen Tier 2 dan Tier 3 berbeda – konten bahasa lokal, pekerjaan – semua ini dilakukan dengan pendekatan wallet thin approach. 

Q: Bagaimana peran teknologi dengan adanya peluang ini untuk mentransformasi digital di seluruh kota? Misal, cloud computing ini mampu membuka kesempatan bagi para pendiri, termasuk mereka yang masih dalam tahap paling awal, untuk mengakses alat dan layanan canggih yang mungkin sudah tidak terjangkau sejak bertahun-tahun lalu, seperti Artificial Intelligence dan Internet of Things (IoT). Seberapa besar kesadaran yang Anda lihat di antara para pendiri dalam memanfaatkan akses (teknologi) semacam itu?

Komputasi cloud semakin mempermudah Anda untuk mewujudkan ide hebat, bahkan untuk pendiri non-teknis pada tahap paling awal dalam menumbuhkan bisnis yang sukses. Di AWS, kami menawarkan berbagai program dan inisiatif untuk mendukung startup di setiap tahap siklus hidup mereka, dari tahap awal hingga kedewasaan.

Pada tahap paling awal, program AWS Activate kami memberikan sejumlah manfaat bagi startup yang memenuhi syarat, termasuk kredit AWS, dukungan teknis, dan pelatihan. AWS Activate telah memberikan ratusan ribu startup di seluruh dunia dengan sejumlah manfaat sejak tahun 2013, termasuk kredit AWS, dukungan teknis, dan pelatihan. Amazon memberikan lebih dari US $ 1 miliar dalam bentuk kredit AWS secara global selama tahun 2020 untuk membantu para pemula tahap awal meluncurkan bisnis mereka dan mempercepat pertumbuhan mereka. Dengan bantuan ini, para pemula menggunakan layanan cloud yang dapat diskalakan, andal, dan aman seperti computing, penyimpanan, database, analitik, Internet of Things, pembelajaran mesin, dan banyak lainnya dari AWS untuk menskalakan bisnis mereka.

Dengan lebih dari 200 produk dan layanan, kami memiliki rangkaian kemampuan terluas dan terdalam dari penyedia cloud mana pun, mulai dari computing dan penyimpanan dasar hingga opsi basis data dan arsitektur tingkat lanjut, hingga solusi yang dibuat sebelumnya. Selain itu, tim kami berdedikasi untuk bekerja dengan pelanggan pemula kami untuk membantu mereka menentukan layanan mana yang terbaik untuk mereka.

Layanan kami mencakup rangkaian lengkap alat AI / ML, mulai dari alat pembuatan dan pelatihan hingga kerangka kerja lanjutan dan solusi berbasis AI yang dikemas. Kami bekerja sama dengan perusahaan rintisan Indonesia yang melihat manfaat besar dari adopsi Machine Learning. Contoh yang bagus adalah HappyFresh, layanan belanja bahan makanan online yang beroperasi di Indonesia, Malaysia, dan Thailand. Diluncurkan pada tahun 2015, perusahaan ini bermitra dengan 278 supermarket dan toko yang menggunakan platform dan layanan pengiriman HappyFresh untuk menawarkan belanja bahan makanan online kepada pelanggan. Perusahaan mengirimkan lebih dari 100.000 produk melalui aplikasinya yang telah diunduh lebih dari 1,5 juta kali. HappyFresh menggunakan AWS Lambda untuk deteksi penipuan, AWS Glue untuk mengekstraksi dan memproses data, dan Amazon SageMaker untuk pembelajaran mesin guna mengantisipasi permintaan pelanggan

 Q: Apa prediksi Anda untuk tahun 2021 dan seterusnya, terkait dengan perluasan peluang ke kota T2 dan T3 di Indonesia?

2021 akan menjadi tahun transformasi digital yang belum pernah terjadi sebelumnya, didukung oleh percepatan adopsi komputasi awan. Ini benar-benar akan menjadi “tatanan kehidupan baru” untuk lanskap bisnis Indonesia.

AWS akan membuka wilayah infrastruktur di Indonesia pada akhir 2021/awal 2022. Pembukaan Wilayah AWS di Indonesia akan mendukung ekosistem startup yang berkembang pesat di Indonesia, perusahaan besar di Indonesia, dan lembaga pemerintah dengan membantu mendorong lebih banyak pekerjaan dan bisnis teknologi, meningkatkan ekonomi lokal, dan memungkinkan organisasi di semua vertikal untuk menurunkan biaya, meningkatkan ketangkasan, dan meningkatkan fleksibilitas. Kami senang AWS menjadi bagian yang berarti dari perjalanan ini.

Penambahan Wilayah AWS Asia Pasifik (Jakarta) akan memungkinkan organisasi memberikan latensi yang lebih rendah kepada pengguna akhir di Indonesia, dan di seluruh Asia Pasifik. Selain itu, organisasi Indonesia dari startup hingga perusahaan dan sektor publik akan memiliki infrastruktur di negaranya untuk memanfaatkan teknologi canggih dari cloud terkemuka di dunia dengan rangkaian layanan cloud terluas dan terdalam termasuk analitik, Artificial Intelligence, database, Internet of Things (IoT) , pembelajaran mesin, layanan seluler, tanpa server, dan lainnya untuk mendorong inovasi.

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Ikuti webinar #StartupUntukNegeri seri kedua dengan tema: Mengembangkan startup Anda di luar metropolitan Indonesia, yang  akan berlangsung pada hari Selasa, 6 April 2021, pukul 7 malam melalui aplikasi Go To Webinar!

A Battle to Embrace Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises

With its high contribution to the Gross Domestic Product reaching more than 57,8%, the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector not only contributes to the economy, but is also capable to gather majority of Indonesian workforce (Central Statistics Agency/BPS, 2018). However, the perks of having technology is not quite inclusive in this segment.

“Since it was founded, Youtap’s vision is to provide and empower all lines of business, from the enterprise level to MSMEs to achieve their best through digital development. MSMEs have become one focus in developing our all-in-one solutions as Youtap spots a great potential in this sector,” Youtap Indonesia’s CEO, Herman Suharto said.

Meanwhile, according to BukuWarung’s Co-Founder & President, Chinmay Chauhan, MSMEs are not only an economic source, but also important for local communities, especially those who live in rural areas. BukuWarung has formed partnerships with more than 5 million businesses in 750 locations. Most of them function as a place for people to shop for daily necessities and to interact with neighbors.

“The major operational challenge for microbusinesses is their reliance on manual processes for bookkeeping and repayment with customers. We estimate that less than 10% of microbusinesses use any type of digital device to manage their business or accounting.”

From this case, technology companies are trying to play an important role in supporting efforts to digitize MSMEs in Indonesia. Chinmay recommends that they rather focus on how their day-to-day operations, than too focus on innovation and disruption, such as bookkeeping, stock fulfillment and receiving payments, can be made easier and more efficient.

BukuKas’ Co-Founder & CEO, Krishnan Menon learned from his living experience and working in Indonesia, MSMEs are the bread and butter of this country. However, not many technology companies have focused on the needs of this segment. He said to DailySocial that his business is positioned as a digitalization software company for MSMEs that will develop into a fintech player.

“Merchants have realized that going digital is very important for their business. Traders save 2-4 hours a day, 20% costs, and minimize manual calculation errors. We also allow merchants to recover their debt 3 times faster since it’s all automatic.”

Accelerating adoption

In the Social Impact 2020 report released by Bukalapak, MSMEs throughout Indonesia is said to face enormous challenges during the pandemic. Bukalapak is trying to turn this challenge into an opportunity. As the pandemic limits movement, they empower MSMEs capable of offering a wide range of services, from selling groceries and basic necessities, also offering remittances, bill payments and various financial services and other virtual products.

This step allows public to get services from conventional stores registered as Bukalapak’s partners. Until 2020, Bukalapak had added around 4 million Bukalapak vendors and partners. Overall, there are currently 6.5 million sellers (pelapak) and 7 million Bukalapak partners throughout Indonesia.

The pandemic has fasten target users’ acceleration and digital adoption. Chinmay said, MSME’s traditional socioeconomic role in Indonesia is fundamental. Indonesia’s economic potential, which currently experiencing a rapid digitalization during the pandemic, cannot be fully realized if small companies do not immediately taking part in the digital transformation.

“Indonesia is now doubling down on digitizing its companies to be more productive and competitive amid this economic recovery, focusing on a largely underbanked segment such as MSMEs. This is a commendable task but also a monumental one, as there are around 60 million similar businesses throughout the 6,000 islands in the country,” Chinmay said.

One way to focus on accelerating adoption is providing education. Each platform also strives to provide the features users need with easy-to-use technology.

“It is undeniable that the education is easier to do in Jakarta, compared to small cities outside Jabodetabek. In order to provide education easily and inclusively, it is important for players to build simple products to be easily used by traders,” Krishnan said.

With its unique characteristics, the Indonesian market does need a special touch. This is also said by BukuKas team. In order to reach users in small cities, they present an offline mode feature with automatic synchronization when the user is successfully connected to the internet network.

Meanwhile, Youtap sees the benefits of digital technology in helping business players maintain their operational during a pandemic. They are using technology services to increase their sales.

“However, to date, technological adaptation is still not very inclusive in various regions in Indonesia. In fact, if they can adapt, their business can move forward thanks to the ability and fluency of the advanced technology,” said Herman.

SME market potential

Based on BPS data in 2018, the MSME sector is still one of the biggest drivers of the economy at 64.2 million. However, only 16% (Ministry of Cooperatives and MSMEs, December 2020) have been connected to the digital ecosystem.

“Through the large number, the MSME market holds many great opportunities to maximize digital use in its business. Not only limited to business management, but also many other aspects such as marketing, financial management and digital payments, especially with the standardization of QR payments by the Government,” Herman said.

In order to provide the best services and products, BukuKas performs several strategies. One of them is to focus on seeing what their pain points look like and building the solutions required.

“We have the best team with an innovative product culture and DNA that no other player in the market has. This becomes our core strength. We remain focused on traders rather than worrying about competition,” Krishnan said.

BukuWarung claims to be the only player who makes money through payments. In this case, they see the payment adoption as a strategic driver to enable monetization through credit, savings and other financial services at a later stage of the merchant’s business cycle.

“Our focus is more on an in-depth understanding of our merchants to help us stay ahead, it’s proven by how our products and features have become the standard for other players,” Chinmay said.

Meanwhile, Bukalapak still has a vision to build the economy through MSMEs. Starting as a marketplace, Bukalapak has grown into a trading platform serving both online and offline markets.

“In 2016, to ensure that there are no MSMEs left behind, we started to provide solutions to serve the needs of the offline market including stalls, traditional kiosks and individual agents, enabling them to sell beyond FMCG goods,” Bukalapak’s CEO, Rachmat Kaimuddin said.

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Original article is in Indonesian, translated by Kristin Siagian

Insurance Companies Strategy to Tighten Distribution Channels by Collaborating with Startups

Last week, Home Credit announced collaboration with PT Asuransi Harta Aman Pratama to launch an insurtech product called “MyLifeCOVER” on the fintech platform. Users can now register, pay, and process claims through the Home Credit application.

Earlier this month, Grab has also announced PT PFI Mega Life Insurance as its partner. The collaboration is formed through the “Sobat Proteksi” feature on the superapp, making it easier for users to get insurance products for critical illness protection.

In 2020 we recorded a total eight launching of similar collaboration, between digital platforms and insurance companies – apart from platforms developed by startups that specifically work on insurtech businesses – including:

Platform Digital Perusahaan Asuransi
DANA AXA Financial Indonesia, Mandiri AXA General Insurance
Traveloka FWD Life Indonesia
Grab Asuransi Simas Jiwa
Good Doctor AXA Financial Indonesia
JD.id Asuransi Jiwa Sequis Life
Modal Rakyat Adira Insurance
OYO Asuransi Simas Insurtech
Halodoc Avrist Assurance

Quoting from 2020 Corporate Digital Transformation Report, digital innovation for insurance products and services is divided into several aspects. Nearly all collaboration models are focused on “digital customer engagement”, or as a channel to connect insurance products and services to their users. The question is: how effective is that?

Insurtech Innovation

Grab Financial (a unit of Grab that focuses on financial and insurance platforms) recently announced that during its two years of operation in Southeast Asia, their insurtech unit has successfully sold 100 million insurance policies. In the release, Tokopedia also said that micro insurance products such as “Gadget Protection” had experienced an increase in transactions of up to 70 times by the end of 2020. These two examples are obviously extraordinary.

The potential is there; according to Nielsen’s research in 2020, public awareness of having life insurance products in major cities in Indonesia during the pandemic has increased to 24%. Previously, it only stuck in single digit. Although in Indonesia, insurance ownership in average is relatively low, with insurance penetration (total premium/GDP) of 3%.

Industry player’s perspective

In the launching of its collaboration with insurance company partners, Home Credit Indonesia’s Head of Payments & Value-Added Services, Randy Pragustio Priantoro said, “It takes innovation through digital technology, therefore, insurance can reach the widest possible range of Indonesian people and is able to provide a good understanding of the importance of soul protection.”

In his observation, consumer applications like the current products are indeed the right approach to reach these groups. Moreover, one of the fintech missions is to protect those who have not been fully served by banking services while helping to improve financial literacy.

Grab Financial Group’s Head of Insurance, Tom Duncan said similar thing when launching the partnership with Mega Life Insurance, “This product [Sobat Proteksi] is an extension of our micro and fractional pricing approach, therefore, more underserved people can benefit from insurance products that is accessible and arrived in a transparent manner.”

In terms of insurance company, Niharika Yadav as President Director of AXA Financial Indonesia also said at the launching of the collaboration with DANA, that product accessibility is a priority to develop with digital application developers. “We strive to always innovate and present life and health insurance solutions that focus on customers and provide easy access for everyone to have and experience the benefits of insurance protection.”

Education through product relevance

The best way to provide education is to provide practical experience. This model seems relevant in relation to the proliferation of microinsurance products currently integrated with services from digital startups. The microinsurance product referred to here is protection for something of relatively smaller value, for example gadget insurance, short-distance travel insurance, etc. The price is quite affordable.

For instance, OVO charges a monthly fee ranging from IDR 15,000 to IDR 65,000 for insurance to cracked screens on smartphone – in (1) 100% guarantee for new screen replacement; (2) repair warranty whether the screen have another damage within 90 days; (3) flexible protection period ranging from 3 to 12 months; (4) claim free pick-up and delivery service from the user’s residence to the service center and vice versa; (5) new and original spare parts.

Gojek offers similar product, in collaboration with its portfolio, PasarPolis. Gopay’s Chief Risk and Compliance Officer, Budi Gandasoebrata said the focus of GoSure (insurtech unit) is to facilitate public access to affordable insurance products. In addition, products or services must also be ensured with daily needs. “[As an example] In presenting this product [gadget insurance], we fully understand the importance of protecting gadgets, which currently have almost become a primary need in a society that has become increasingly digitalized since the Covid-19 pandemic.”

With a more mature understanding of insurance products / services and how they work – especially by experiencing the direct benefits – it is not impossible that the penetration of insurance products (including life insurance) will increase in the future.

Quoting from the DSResearch report, Indonesian people still reluctant to gent insurance because of some reasons. Related to the procedure to get it (33.62%); prices that are considered too expensive (24.15%); do not understand about the product and its benefits (20.76%). There are some respondents (13.56%) who associate it with the prohibition of religion.

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Original article is in Indonesian, translated by Kristin Siagian

The Rise of Stock Investors, EMTrade to Transform into Robo Advisory

EMTrade is a digital portal with mission to help new investors learn about stocks. Founded by influencer and stock practitioner Ellen May, the platform is currently transforming from an edu-fintech based application to a robo-advisory platform.

As a Founder & CEO, Ellen said to DailySocial, in the latest EMTrade application update, some automation features have been implemented. For example, to speed up the work process of Q&A services. In addition to the Q&A service, the EMTrade application has other features, including share purchase/sale recommendations, stock analysis, and educational channels.

“We are now recruiting for technology team, both for the back-end and front-end positions. In the future, EMTrade will transform into an end-to-end application to accompany [retail] stock investors in Indonesia,” Ellen said.

He said, there is a fairly specific roadmap for this year development. In the second quarter, a premium content feature will be launched, as well as a virtual trading service in late June to help users do demo trading. Artificial intelligence and machine learning technology will be implemented for stock screening – providing analysis based on user behavior.

“Moreover, we will launch an online trading feature that allows users to transact shares in the application in the fourth quarter. The partners are still undisclosed because it’s still in the finalizing process while waiting for license from OJK,” Ellen added.

Jajaran tim pengembang EMTrade / EMTrade
EMTrade development team / EMTrade

Quoting from Indonesia Stock Exchange, there will be an additional 1.3 million SID (Single Investor Identification) for new capital markets and 590 thousand new SID shares in 2020, an increase of 61% and 134% from the previous year – the highest in the history of the capital market in Indonesia. As of the end of 2021, there were a total of 3.88 SID for the capital market and 1.65 million SID for shares. Ne SID users are usually within the ages of 18 and 40.

Ellen said, this happened due to various factors, including public considerations during a pandemic – interest rates tend to be low, making people look for other alternatives to develop money. The investment mindset is getting popular, people find it easier to compare various application instruments as the medium is everywhere.

In Indonesia, there are several startups working on platforms to facilitate the stock investment process. The two most significant ones are Stockbit and Ajaib. Most recently, Ajaib announced to secure 1.3 trillion Rupiah investment. Both have sub-services to facilitate users to invest in mutual funds.

“Compared to gold, returns in stocks are more attractive. Gold has only risen in the last 1-2 years, previously it was stagnant. Meanwhile, people say the risk is smaller in mutual funds because it has a person to manage the product. However, in the recent cases, there are many problematic mutual funds, it certainly increase the risks. The smallest investment risk is in our control. However, you must willing to learn,” Ellen explained.

However, the attractiveness in gold investment is quite high. There are many digital platforms to facilitate it, from Pluang, Treasury, Indogold, e-mas, etc. – some of them have been integrated with e-commerce applications and popular digital wallets in Indonesia. Other alternatives are emerging with technology media, such as investing in crypto assets, equity crowdfunding, or p2p lending.

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Original article is in Indonesian, translated by Kristin Siagian

Application Information Will Show Up Here

The Way SPAC and Dual Class Shares Drive Unicorns to Go-Public

The Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) has been improved since earlier this year to welcome three unicorns. Some relaxation has been prepared, one of which is allowing them to go public using SPAC (Special Purpose Acquisition Company) and dual class shares. These are currently being discussed in the internal unit.

DailySocial received a statement that IDX’s Company Assessment Director,  I Gede Nyoman Yetna Setia said SPAC and dual-class shares (DCS) are currently in internal review, discussing with authorities and stakeholders regarding the potential for implementation and regulation in Indonesia.

He said, in every process of regulation drafting, his team will first make comparisons with several other stock exchanges in other countries to determine the best practices in Indonesia.

“Indeed, by considering several things such as corporate governance, protection of public investors, and compliance with applicable laws and regulations,” he said.

Separately, quoting from Bisnis.com, Nyoman said that the IDX is currently studying the potential for implementing DCS with a multiple voting share (MVS) structure. MVS is a type of share with more than one vote for each share.

MVS implementation in several countries usually regulates the maximum ratio between shares with voting rights is 1:10 or 1 share has 10 voting rights. This is different from ordinary shares, with only one voting right for each share, which is called the ordinary share.

“In terms of best practice in several global exchanges, DCS with MVS classification usually can only be held by founders who also involve as company management or key parties who can ensure the sustainability of the company’s vision or innovation in the long term.”

Pros and Cons

Essentially, SPAC and DCS are trends in the United States which is the hub for all tech companies. Amvesindo’s Chairman, Edward Chamdani observed whether SPAC can be implemented in Indonesia, it will be quite similar to the practice of reverse listing but with a guarantee of a much cheaper cost and process.

“In reverse listing, there is a risk that the company’s shell suddenly has a tax or legal problem. Meanwhile, the SPAC is guaranteed to be clean as it is new. Of all the companies intend to merge with SPAC, the sponsor is flexible, as long as it can provide sufficient value and funds,”  Edward said to DailySocial.

The downside also applies to founders, because they have to sell a percentage of shares and at a lower value than the market price.

The DCS practice is capturing lots of attention in the United States. Around 26 of the 134 companies that went public in 2018, 25 of 112 new companies registered in 2019, and 32 of the 165 companies that were newly registered in 2020 adopted DCS.

This fact has motivated stock exchanges in other countries such as Hong Kong, Singapore and Shanghai to create relaxation to regulations expecting markets to be more attractive, especially for tech companies. Moreover, Hong Kong had previously lost as Alibaba and other big companies turned around and go public in New York.

Edward explained that his team would really appreciate the IDX’s steps if DCS practice could be implemented in Indonesia because this will be a new breakthrough. For investors, DCS is not a strange concept as it is similar to preferred stock when investors signed the shareholder agreement issued by the company during the rights issue.

The preferred shareholders have higher voting rights than common shareholders, although this practice is less common in Indonesia.

The DCS existence is essential for tech startup founders because in  startup journey they are likely to make various series of funding which causes their shares diminished.

When it becomes a public company, DSC serves to convince investors that the company can achieve a certain vision and mission in the long term under its control. Although the founder has technically less shares, the voting rights are greater than the common stock.

“If the stock exchange can implement this, it will be a positive thing because most of tech companies are driven by a founder figure.”

When go public, company benchmarks are usually valued from the financial statements and good corporate governance (GCG). Disruptive and innovative technology companies are strongly influenced by the founder figure to strengthen the company’s abstract vision and mission.

Edward also expects that from the investor’s point of view, he will be more familiar in the future with the characteristics of technology companies which benchmarks are invisible from EBITDA, enterprise value (EV), or price to earnings ratio (PE). Therefore, even though they still around negative profit and loss (P&L), in the next 10-20 years, by understanding the disruptive roadmap of these companies, it will become a valuable company.

“The closest example is when Amazon go public, every income is always converted into assets, therefore, they do not pay dividends to shareholders. With such knowledge, investors can think long term, not just quarterly.”

Behind the glittering promises of DCS, there is always a negative vibe as the capitalist system eliminates democratic elements. One share is no longer valued as one vote. Google even has three types of shares, Class A, B, and C. Each Class B share has 10 voting rights filled by Google insiders. Meanwhile Class A common stock sold to the public is worth only one vote and Class C does not have voting rights.

Academics from Queen Mary University of London, Min Yan said that another debate is about a shift to how to contain governance-related risks. Such steps as termination and restrictions on voting differences are designed to withhold control over several classes of shares by voting and provide mandatory protection for shareholders with lower votes. However, this action, intentional or not, jeopardizes the value of the different voting rights.

Such action is like a double-edged sword, not only helping to reduce governance risk but also undermining the isolation of controllers from external investors and market influence.

The lack of enthusiasm for technology companies to go public on the Hong Kong, Singapore and Shanghai exchanges reflects the diminishing attractiveness of the DCS structure when safeguards are tight. This situation is the opposite of what happened in the United States, because there are no such compulsory precautions there.

Yan also highlighted the key safeguards, including final provisions, maximum vote differentials, and improved corporate governance standards, as ex ante strategies. Given the objective of such action is to prevent potential managerial unaccountability and opportunism by restricting the ability of controlling shareholders to exercise some of their voting rights.

Because the strict ex ante strategy, with too much restriction of controlling power and jeopardizing the benefits of weighted voting rights under dual class shares, the action to make ex post as an alternative needs to be reconsidered.

He said, no financial authority in Asia has an effective and strong ex post regime. DCS’s true success lies in its market acceptance. Whether a few or no companies intend to go public with that kind of structure, allowing two-class listing will be futile.

“Therefore, I suggest exploring more ex post mechanisms, such as aggregate litigation through a representative process that provides solutions to disadvantaged shareholders when the problem of lack of managerial accountability occurs, to reduce dependence on ex ante constraints as mandatory safeguards,” he concluded.

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Original article is in Indonesian, translated by Kristin Siagian
Foto header: Depositphotos.com

Ajaib Receives Additional Series A Funding, Securing 1.3 Trillion Rupiah

Ajaib Group today (29/3) announced additional funding in Series A round worth $65 million, led by Ribbit Capital. Combined with the previously announced series A, Ajaib has managed to book a total of $90 million or equivalent to 1.3 trillion Rupiah in this round – and is said to be the largest Series A funding round in Southeast Asia.

This is Ribbit Capital’s debut in Southeast Asia. They previously invested in global players such as Coinbase, Affirm, Revolut and Robinhood. In addition, several investors involved in Ajaib’s funding, including Y Combinator Continuity, ICONIQ Capital, and Bangkok Bank PLC; as well as several angel investors from fintech founders such as David Velez from Nubank and SG Lee from Toss.

Previous investors such as Horizons Ventures, Softbank Ventures Asia, Alpha JWC Ventures, and Insignia Ventures were also involved in this round. Previously, he said, the company will use the fresh funding to improve technology infrastructure, recruit technical teams, and expand product offerings.

“We are witnessing an unprecedented revolution in retail investment. Ajaib is at the forefront and they are building the most trusted brand in Indonesia. Its commitment to providing transparency and serving Indonesian millennial investors with the best products matched the world class company ,” Ribbit Capital’s Managing Partner, Micky Malka said.

Was founded in 2018, Ajaib Group currently accommodates two investment arms on its digital platform, including Ajaib Sekuritas (PT Ajaib Sekuritas Asia – acquisition of Primasia Unggul Sekuritas) for shares and Ajaib Reksadana (PT Takjub Tekonologi Indonesia) for mutual fund products.

Even though there are several existing players in the retail investment segment, Ajaib considers the potential is remain large. To date, less than 1% of Indonesia’s total population has invested in stocks. Therefore, they intensified educational acts amidst various business expansion agendas.

Ajaib Sekuritas currently positioned in the 4th largest stock broker  based on trading quantity. In four months, Ajaib’s share investment platform has accommodated around 10 million transactions.

Founder Ajaib Group Yada Piyajomkwan dan Anderson Sumarli / Ajaib
Ajaib Group Founder, Yada Piyajomkwan with Anderson Sumarli / Ajaib

“Our mission is to welcome new generation of investors to modern financial services. We believe in the power of young Indonesian retail investors. We also believe that the best products and education will win. Ajaib is growing rapidly organically and we will continue to invest in product development and our educational campaign,” Ajaib Group’s Co-Founder & CEO, Anderson Sumarli said.

Apart from Ajaib Group, there is also Stockbit as a stock investment application. It has secured series A funding led by East Ventures in 2019. Later in the same year they also acquired Bibit mutual fund investment platform to expand their business scope. Earlier this year, Bibit announced a $30 million funding led by Sequoia Capital India with the participation of East Ventures, EV Growth, and 500 Startups.

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Original article is in Indonesian, translated by Kristin Siagian

Application Information Will Show Up Here

Bank Jago Aims for Ecosystem Collaboration to Accelerate Growth

The public is currently waiting for the commercialization of mobile banking PT Bank Jago Tbk (ARTO) to be launched in late March. Quoting Bloomberg, this application will offer some financial services, including loans. This service will be available in the Gojek application, therefore, millions of users can open accounts and manage their finances automatically.

When announcing Gojek’s arrival as a shareholder, Bank Jago emphasized its vision to connect financial and lifestyle solutions into one platform. Gradually, this vision has begun to be reflected in Bank Jago’s efforts to embrace digital platforms from various business verticals to enter its ecosystem.

Prior to Gojek, Bank Jago had collaborated with Akulaku to launch digital-based financing in November 2020. Another partnership followed, such as Smart Credit and Akseleran. This number will continue to grow from other business verticals, including e-commerce retailers, travel, entertainment, and insurance.

By embracing ecosystem partners, Bank Jago is showing a full picture in building a digital bank. This is also reinforced by the statement of senior banker and founder of Bank Jago, Jerry Ng, who highlighted collaboration as one of the keys to the development of a digital bank.

Organic vs Collaboration

In the 2021 Indonesia Data and Economic Conference session by Katadata, Jerry said that it would be difficult for banks to grow if they did not have a unique business model. Especially in the digital era, all services will eventually collaborate with other lines. One of the goals is to accommodate the emergence of a new digital literate generation. Unlike the situation 5-10 years ago, there was no digital service ecosystem such as Gojek, Tokopedia, and Traveloka.

Jerry said this collaboration can be a key strategy to accelerate the growth of the digital bank business. For instance, digital banks in China and South Korea are oriented towards ecosystem collaboration, therefore, they can pursue growth through products with a wider spectrum.

This has proven Bank Jago’s various strategic partnership actions of several verticals since 2020. Also, he said this model is different from digital banks in Europe and the United States which focus on developing life-centric services.

“We have to create a unique value proposition. What we are doing is combining the two as they both have advantages. The bank is no longer the center of the ecosystem, but it is part of the ecosystem made by consumers, in the end it is all about payment,” Jerry said.

This strategy is different from Jenius, he said, which is oriented towards organic development. Therefore, he rejects the notion that Bank Jago is a continuation of Jenius development. This assumption is often carried away as he used to be the President Director of BTPN, and also the brains behind Jenius development.

Looking at the competitive map, it seems that Bank Jago is the one which aggressively expanding its collaboration partners. However, this strategy is up for other banks that have transformed digitally. For example, the Bank Neo Commerce (BNC). In addition to Akulaku’s entry as a shareholder, BNC also collaborates with the fintech platform Crowdo for SME financing.

Challenges of tech-based bank

In terms of technology, Bank Jago claims that all of its service infrastructures is digital-based. Even Jerry dared to claim to be the first tech-based bank in the region. In becoming a digital bank, Jerry admitted to have several criteria in selecting a bank.

Bank Artos (before Bank Jago) was considered to meet the criteria as it did not have a legacy and only had few human resources. Based on the condition, his team can develop technology from scratch. This criteria indeed will fail if they use bank with big legacy. For example, a bank with thousands of branch offices.

“We consider Bank Artos fit as it is yet to develop the technology with only few human resources. In the case of Covid-19, all banks considered digitalization. We [Artos Bank] have no problem because the balance sheet is small. This makes it easier for us to make strategic decisions and the Bank Artos fit the criteria,” he explained.

He considered post-pandemic conditions could make the banking industry in Indonesia aware, banks have built too many branch offices. “Branches is not really necessary. I closed 600 branches once and it was not easy. Hence, changing the existing technology will be more difficult,” he added.

The above hypothesis is relevant as its competitor used the same strategy, acquiring BUKU I and II as Sea Group, the parent company of Shopee did with Bank Kesejahteraan Ekonomi and Akulaku towards BNC (formerly Bank Yudha Bhakti).

With a collaboration-based business model, Jerry said that the challenges are quite difficult in harmonizing visions. Moreover, the collaboration partners are digital platforms from various business verticals that bring their respective technologies or innovations.

“Banks are synonymous with slow processes, strong bureaucracy, and always refer to risk management or compliance. Meanwhile, startups innovate quickly and as in a hurry. However, we learn a lot to solve problems and get the latest technology. It has to be at the expense of carelessness, we can achieve both. To date, we feel pretty good doing it at Jago Bank.”

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Original article is in Indonesian, translated by Kristin Siagian