BRI invests Indonesia fintech player Ayoconnect

Tokyo Exchange, Kakaku, and Brama One Ventures came in as new investors. Existing backers Finch Capital and Amand Ventures also participated. It brings total funding to date to $10 million.

Ayoconnect, a B2B payments specialist that has facilitated more than 40 million transactions to date, hopes to build the first bill network for unbanked consumers in Indonesia. The plan is to connect utilities, telecom service companies, education institutes, and other bill providers with various online and offline commercial and financial institutions.

Ayoconnect says it builds and runs hundreds of systems for tackling issues related to low margins and high overhead costs for its channel partners, ensuring standardization, network development, and transaction success. As of July, it had a network of 600 bill providers and 40 channel partners, including Bank BRI, Bukalapak, and Lazada. The company claims to have achieved 400% growth in transaction volumes during the six months to June.

"Bill payment technology plays a vital part across many currently underserved industry verticals and there is a tremendous growth opportunity in the upcoming digitalization of those sectors," Nicko Widjaja, CEO of BRI Ventures, said in a statement. "We see a sustainable value in Ayoconnect's approach to serve the entire ecosystem by working with bill providers, aggregators and channel partners alike. Their open network allows the acceleration in democratizing digital products within the Indonesian fintech ecosystem over the coming years."

BRI Ventures was set up in June with its debut vehicle, known as Sembrani Nusantara, targeting a first close of IDR300 billion ($21.2 million) on an unspecified final target. Sembrani Nusantara is being touted as significant milestone for the local ecosystem after being licensed by the financial services authority OJK. Most VC funds in Indonesia have historically operated either as entities incorporated offshore or corporate funds that invest off the balance sheet of a parent company. In addition to fintech, the fund will target the education, agriculture, maritime, retail, transportation, and healthcare sectors.

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• Topics
• Southeast Asia
• Financials
• Early-stage
• Indonesia
• Finch Capital
• Financial Services