This micro-lending platform is putting up a strong competition for loan sharks and traditional banks
The winner for the e27 Startup of the Month August edition is UangTeman –the startup whose name translates to Friend’s Money in Indonesian.
While Indonesia is the 10th largest economy in the world in terms of purchasing power according to the WorldBank, the fact is that the nation houses 25.9 million people living below the poverty line.
That being said, banks usually do not cater to this class of the population despite it forming a major chunk of the population.
This brings UangTeman into the picture as it aims to solve the issue by lending money to borrowers with no credit card or credit history. Thus, it competes with loan sharks and traditional banks that offer micro-lending.
According to CEO Aidil Zulkifli, borrowers can simply pay back the loan at the end of their chosen tenor period. The company charges one per cent interest rate per day for first-time customers, which is said to “decrease over time if the customer shows good credit behaviour”.
“UangTeman wants to promote transparency to the consumer. We are very clear about how much you borrow and how much is due —not a single rupiah less or more,” says Zulkifli.
Funding
The startup has raised US$22.7 million in funding over the last five rounds. Backed by venture capital firms such as Alpha JWC Ventures, K2 Venture Capital, Draper Associates, and Global Brain, the company also has the co-founder of British loan company Wonga as an investor.
The company’s most recent funding round was on August 24, where it closed the first tranche of a US$10 million Series B funding round.
Also Read: UangTeman raises first tranche of US$10M Series B led by Tim Drapers fund; to acquire a P2P startup
Growth
While the company has already been growing rapidly within Indonesia, it aims to grow further within the country by diversifying into micro-business lending. It plans to do that through an acquisition of an existing P2P lending platform in September 2019.
Other than that, the company also intends to set foot in the Philippines and is currently in talks of obtaining a license with the officials.
The company plans to commence its Series C financing round in 2020.
The runner-up
In addition to UangTeman, the e27 Community on Telegram and Twitter had also voted for Med247 as a runner-up for the Startup of the Month title.
Based in Vietnam, Med247 is a healthtech startup that combines the offline and online elements in their operations. Using the Med247 platform, patients are able to have follow-up consultation online, helping to make treatment more efficient for them.
The startup has recently made headline when it announced an undisclosed amount of investment from KK Fund, a venture capital (VC) firm that mainly invests in seed-stage internet and mobile startups in Southeast Asia, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.
It is one of the very few pre-launched startups that KK Fund had invested in.
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Image Credit: Roman Synkevych
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