
Grab Indonesia invests in Indonesian Fintech app, LinkAja
LinkAja, one of Indonesia’s leading fintech apps, today announced a strategic investment from Grab, Southeast Asia’s top super app. Grab is leading the Series B round as a minority investor. It is LinkAja’s first investment from a private and major technology company. Simultaneously, this funding round also includes investments from Telkomsel, BRI Ventura Investama, and Mandiri Capital Indonesia. The funds raised from this fundraising, reaching a total commitment of up to approximately USD100 million. The raised funds will accelerate LinkAja’s growth aspirations. LinkAja seeks to become the national financial technology champion. Its focus primarily will be on the middle class/ aspirant, and Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) segments in Indonesia.
LinkAja’s e-wallet commenced commercial operations on June 30th, 2019. The e-wallet was a result of synergy between leading Indonesian State-Owned Enterprises. Since then, LinkAja has rapidly developed its user and merchant base for e-payment services. LinkAja has built a fintech platform to enable digital financial services focused on Indonesia’s middle class/aspirant, and Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) segments in Indonesia. LinkAja currently has more than 58 million registered users. More than 80% of users come from Indonesia’s Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities.
Syariah Compliant
In April 2020, LinkAja launched Layanan Syariah LinkAja as the first and only sharia e-money in Indonesia. Layanan Syariah LinkAja has received a Sharia Conformity certification license from the National Sharia Council of the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) and Bank Indonesia. Within six months of launch, more than 1 million users had registered with the Sharia platform.
The strategic investment from Grab provides a wide range of potential synergies and collaborative opportunities for both parties. Synergy and collaboration in terms of ecosystem access and technology will accelerate and improve financial inclusion to all Indonesian society.
The successful fundraising despite the COVID-19 pandemic bears testament to the confidence in LinkAja’s business model.
LinkAja was able to grow its Gross Transaction Value (“GTV”). It was also able to expand the number of transactions in the third quarter of the year 2020 (July ~ September) both by ~3x compared with the same period last year. This growth is occurring despite the pandemic. This further showcases the ability of the strong local management team and highlights the resilience of LinkAja’s unique business model.
CEO of LinkAja happy with the support
Haryati Lawidjaja, CEO of LinkAja, said, “We are very excited to have Grab as one of our shareholders. We believe that Grab’s investment and technology expertise will strengthen LinkAja’s services. We are also very grateful for the trust and support of all shareholders and the Ministry of SOEs. This Series B investment from Grab, Telkomsel, BRI Venture and Mandiri Capital is a vote of confidence for our business model and achievements. We continue to welcome new investors and partners from various sectors to be a part of LinkAja’s mission in realising our big goals of encouraging financial and economic inclusion, as well as accelerating Indonesia’s national economic growth.”
Grab eyes fintech pie
“Grab, together with the Ministry of State-Owned Enterprises, are committed to helping Indonesia’s startups to grow and thrive. Cash is still king in Indonesia, and millions of Indonesians remain invisible to traditional banking systems. We chose LinkAja because we believe that together we can help accelerate our shared goal of improving financial inclusion in Indonesia. The strategic collaboration between LinkAja and our ecosystem which includes partners like OVO and Tokopedia will allow us to bring cashless services to all Indonesians in a way that is trusted, convenient and accessible,” said Neneng Goenadi, Managing Director of Grab Indonesia.
Credit Suisse and Hiswara Bunjamin & Tandjung acted as exclusive placement agent and legal counsel to LinkAja, and Hadiputranto, Hadinoto & Partners served as legal counsel to Grab, for this fund-raising.
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