Gavin Tan, CEO of Brick
Brick, an Indonesia-based fintech API provider, has secured seed funding from a slew of investors, including US-based Better Tomorrow Ventures and PT Prasetia Dwidharma.
1982 Ventures, Antler and San Francisco-headquartered Rally Cap Ventures, besides notable angels such as executives of Aspire, Carousell and Modalku, also participated.
Brick will use the funds to scale its platform, increase coverage and expand to markets within Southeast Asia. The company also plans to launch new APIs for telcos, mobile wallets, e-commerce platforms and payment initiation products.
Launched in 2020 by Gavin Tan (CEO) and Deepak Malhotra (CTO), Brick’s fintech APIs allow users of client companies to connect their financial accounts and access different financial services. The company claims it is compatible with more than 90 per cent of “adult bank accounts” in Indonesia and is currently working with more than 250 developers hailing from 35 tech companies.
“We experienced first-hand the lack of modern infrastructure needed to deliver fintech experiences that customers are demanding. That is why we started Brick to power the next generation of fintech companies with easy to implement, cost-effective, and inclusive fintech infrastructure,” said Tan.
Also Read: Why banks will benefit from open API
“We are still in the early stages of fintech innovation in Southeast Asia and it cannot exist without good data infrastructure. Tech companies in Southeast Asia still do not have easy access to financial APIs. We’ve seen first-hand the fintech innovations that are enabled by creating financial APIs and are excited to back Brick, our first SEA investment,” shared Sheel Mohnot, General Partner at Better Tomorrow Ventures.
“For fintech companies, time-to-market is a very important aspect of their product launches. Brick will allow Indonesian fintech companies to launch their core products faster. We believe that Brick will lower the barrier of entry into fintech, and thus it will contribute to the growth of fintech companies in Indonesia,” said Arya Setiadharma, CEO of PT Prasetia Dwidharma.
Brick noted the high demand, coupled with strong regulatory support from Indonesia’s regulators, makes Indonesia an ideal market for its services. Central bank, Bank Indonesia, released a set of open banking API standards in 2020, paving the way for the adoption of embedded finance.
The company is also part of BRI Ventures’s Sembrani Wira accelerator programme, where it will work with the bank to co-create “innovative and inclusive” fintech infrastructure.
“With digital banking on the rise, we see open banking and API partnership as keys to succeed in the digital world. We believe this is just the beginning, and we look forward to future collaborations with Brick,” commented Markus Rahardja, Head of Sembrani and VP of Investment & BD at BRI Ventures.
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Image Credit: Brick
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