Ajaib co-founders Anderson Sumarli and Yada Piyajomkwan
Ajaib began with a simple bet: that young Indonesians would start investing if opening a brokerage account felt as easy as downloading an app.
Seven years later, that bet has turned into one of Indonesia’s largest consumer fintech platforms, spanning local equities, US stocks, crypto, payments, savings and stablecoin infrastructure. Now, the Jakarta-based company has secured fresh firepower from one of Japan’s most active financial groups.
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Ajaib announced today that it has closed US$270 million in equity financing from SBI Holdings, the Tokyo-listed financial services group. The company said the Series C round was significantly oversubscribed and priced at a premium to its 2021 unicorn valuation. It also described the deal as the largest amount raised by an Indonesian technology company in more than four years.
The new financing brings Ajaib’s total funding raised to more than US$500 million. Its earlier rounds were led by DST Global and Ribbit Capital, backers whose portfolios include companies such as Stripe, Robinhood, Coinbase and Revolut. These include a US$153 million in Series B round, which was announced in October 2021.
For Indonesia’s startup ecosystem, where late-stage funding has been harder to secure since the 2021 peak, the deal is notable not only for its size but also for its source. SBI is not coming in as a passive financial investor. It is investing as a strategic partner, bringing experience across brokerage, digital banking, crypto and digital asset infrastructure.
From first-time investors to multi-asset users
Founded by Stanford MBA classmates Anderson Sumarli and Yada Piyajomkwan, Ajaib launched in 2019 with a retail stock trading product that allowed users to open an account by phone in minutes and without a minimum deposit.
That model hit a nerve in Indonesia, where capital market participation has historically been low despite the country’s scale. Indonesia is the world’s fourth most populous nation, with a young demographic profile and a median age of about 30. For fintech companies, that combination presents an obvious opportunity: millions of people are earning, saving and transacting digitally, but many have not yet bought their first stock, mutual fund or bond.
“Our first customers were college students buying one share at a time,” said Anderson Sumarli, Ajaib’s co-founder and CEO. “Those same customers now hold global stocks, crypto and stablecoins with us. We followed our customers, and our young customers were moving faster than the industry.”
That line captures the company’s broader evolution. Ajaib added crypto trading in 2022, and says its exchange has grown into one of the largest in Indonesia. It later introduced US stocks, allowing Indonesians to buy from as little as one dollar, alongside payments and savings services. The company also says it has built stablecoin infrastructure that now ranks among the country’s largest.
Most of its customers now use multiple products, according to Ajaib. That matters because consumer fintechs across Southeast Asia have been trying to move beyond single-use apps. Brokerage, crypto, lending, payments and savings each have different economics, regulatory requirements and user behaviour. But when combined well, they can create a financial services relationship that is harder to replace.
Why SBI’s involvement matters
SBI’s participation gives the round a different complexion from the growth funding that flooded Southeast Asia during the zero-interest-rate years. The Japanese group has spent the past decade building and investing in digital asset businesses globally, while maintaining deep roots in traditional financial services.
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“In this era of tokenisation, the importance of global infrastructure for digital assets is greater than ever,” said Yoshitaka Kitao, Founder, Chairman and President of SBI Holdings. “As a platform that handles traditional financial products together with digital assets, the Ajaib Group is a perfect match for SBI Group’s vision.”
The word “tokenisation” can sound abstract, but the idea is straightforward. Financial assets such as stocks, bonds, gold or funds can be represented digitally on blockchain-based systems, making them easier to divide, transfer or settle. Stablecoins — crypto tokens designed to track the value of currencies such as the US dollar — are increasingly seen by some financial institutions as a settlement layer for digital markets.
For a company like Ajaib, the strategic argument is that the boundary between conventional investing and digital assets may become less clear over time. A user who starts by buying an Indonesian stock may later buy fractional US shares, crypto assets or tokenised financial products. The winners will likely be platforms that can combine trust, compliance, liquidity and ease of use.
“Financial assets, media, compute — over the next decade a lot of it becomes digital tokens, and stablecoins become how it all settles,” Sumarli said. “Every generation ends up with a financial brand it grows up with. We intend to be that brand for this generation, in Indonesia and beyond.”
A crowded but expanding market
Ajaib is not building in a quiet corner of fintech. In Indonesia, it competes with investment and wealth platforms such as Stockbit and Bibit, multi-asset apps such as Pluang, and digital asset exchanges including Pintu, Tokocrypto and Indodax. Globally, its closest reference points include Robinhood, Coinbase, eToro and Revolut, each of which has tried to turn younger retail users into long-term financial customers.
The difference is that Indonesia remains a market where local regulation, payment rails, trust and education matter deeply. A US-style brokerage app cannot simply be copied and pasted into Jakarta, Bandung or Surabaya. New investors need low barriers to entry, but they also need confidence that products are licensed, understandable and suitable. That is particularly important in crypto, where retail enthusiasm in Southeast Asia has often run ahead of consumer protection.
Ajaib’s pitch is that it sits on both sides of the market: a regulated stock brokerage and a regulated digital asset exchange under one brand. If digital finance does converge, that dual position could become valuable. It could also bring heavier scrutiny, especially as regulators across Asia pay closer attention to stablecoins, retail crypto access and cross-border assets.
Southeast Asia’s late-stage test
The round arrives at a time when Southeast Asian startups are being judged more harshly on revenue quality, compliance and paths to profitability. The exuberant funding cycles of 2020 and 2021 created many unicorns, but the subsequent correction forced founders to cut burn, delay listings and prove that large user bases could translate into durable businesses.
Against that backdrop, a US$270 million up round for an Indonesian fintech will be read closely by the market. It suggests that strategic capital is still available for companies with scale, regulatory positioning and a clear role in the region’s financial infrastructure.
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Ajaib said it will use the new capital to expand its businesses and hire in Indonesia and across the region. The regional element is important. Southeast Asia’s financial markets remain fragmented, but its young, mobile-first users increasingly behave in similar ways: they want low-cost access, global assets, instant settlement and products that fit inside daily digital habits.
The challenge for Ajaib will be turning breadth into depth. Offering stocks, crypto, payments, savings and stablecoins is one thing; making them work together safely and profitably is another. But with SBI now on board, Ajaib has gained not just capital, but a partner with a long-term view of where financial markets may be heading.
For Indonesia’s new generation of investors, the app that once helped them buy a single share is now trying to become their financial operating system.
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