Indonesian credit card issuer Honest has closed an oversubscribed growth equity round, boosting the company’s total equity funding to US$100 million.
The funding was complemented by a US$40 million debt financing from Mizuho Bank.
The equity round was led by Orico, one of Japan’s leading credit card issuers and the consumer finance arm of Mizuho Financial Group. Existing investors XYZ Venture Capital, SV Pacific Ventures, Village Global, and the new backer Gilgamesh Ventures joined.
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The fintech firm aims to use the capital infusion to expand its flagship Honest Card offering and move towards corporate and co-branded cards.
Honest was co-founded in 2013 by Peter Panas, former VP of Product for Apple Card at Goldman Sachs, and Will Ongkowidjaja, co-founder of Indonesian VC firm Alpha JWC. It operates in a market where fewer than 3 per cent of people own a credit card.
The firm holds a credit card licence, which it acquired following the acquisition of GE Finance Indonesia in 2022.
Honest claims to have an edge over traditional incumbents because it can launch new co-branded cards in weeks and approve more than 90 per cent of applicants. According to the founders, this contrasts sharply with traditional Indonesian banks, which often require years to launch similar products and typically approve fewer than 5 per cent of applicants.
Honest draws inspiration from successful digital card models in the Americas, such as Nubank, Ramp, and Imprint, but tailors its approach specifically for the Asian market.
Ross Fubini, Managing Partner at XYZ Venture Capital, said: “Honest has solved problems traditional banks couldn’t touch, and you can see the difference in how people talk about the product—they love using it.”
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Following the round, Fubini will join Honest’s board, with XYZ becoming the company’s second-largest investor, only trailing Orico. The firm’s other investors are Village Global, Goodwater, Rakuten, GMO, and David Vélez.
Recently, another Indonesian credit card startup Skor Technologies raised US$6.2 million in a pre-Series A funding round led by Argor Capital.
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