Mastercard has announced that it will be the leading investor for the Indonesian fintech holding company Digiasia’s Series B funding round, providing both capital and strategic assistance as Digiasia looks to strengthen its suite of financial services that expand the ways individuals and MSMEs can take part in the digital economy.
Digiasia is currently affiliated with several fintech companies in Indonesia: KasPro, an e-wallet and payment platform; KreditPro, a P2P lending and financing platform geared towards micro, small and medium-sized businesses that are underserved by traditional banks; and RemitPro, which offers efficient and secure remittances across both digital channels and through a network of offline agents, such as telecom companies, post offices and retailers. These services are all undergirded by a technological framework that provides security across transactions, guards against risky lending, and allows funds to be accessed and transacted in both digital and physical ways.
The investment comes at a time when the Indonesian government and its stakeholders are focused on driving financial inclusion in what is Southeast Asia’s largest economy. At the end of 2019, the Financial Services Authority reported that the financial inclusion index had hit 76.19%, passing the government’s target of 75% for the year. There has been a particular emphasis on the capacity of fintech to drive additional inclusion and economic opportunity. According to McKinsey, the digitalization of commerce in Indonesia could help to add an additional USD150 billion to the country’s GDP by 2025.
Digiasia has already developed a range of partnerships that help to integrate the digital economy into Indonesians’ day-to-day lives. The company is working with a number of transport operators to allow for easy payments for services, large vendors such as iRMA and Metrodata who can offer B2B sales financed by KreditPro, remittance companies like Western Union and Mandiri Syariah, and digitizing of supply chains by DistroPro. Through partnering with existing businesses such as these, Digiasia is able to connect the banked and unbanked, as well as those that are already digitally connected and those that aren’t yet online.
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