GIC leads $80m round for Indonesia's Bibit
GIC has led an USD 80m funding round for Bibit, operator of one of Indonesia’s largest robo-advisory investment apps. Prosus Ventures and other existing investors also took part.
The latest investment follows two quickfire rounds last year. In January 2021, Sequoia Capital India took the lead in a USD 30m round, supported by East Ventures, 500 Global, AC Ventures, and EV Growth. Four months later, Sequoia returned in the same role for a USD 65m investment. Additional capital came from Prosus, Tencent Holdings, Harvard Management Company, AC, and East.
Bibit was established in 2015 and secured early funding from the likes of IdeoSource Venture Capital Indonesia, Japan’s FreakOut, and UK-based Braavos Ventures. Back then, the company was known as Stockbit and served as a news and information-sharing portal for millennial investors. The later flurry of investment followed the introduction of the robo-advisory business in 2019.
To date, Bitbit has enabled millions of investors – it doesn’t specify how many – across 500 cities to build investment portfolios covering multiple asset classes. Most users are millennials and first-time investors. In the past year, the company has launched a dedicated IPO investment channel and a stock market education service.
It also was appointed by the Ministry of Finance as a distribution partner for government securities. The company is already licensed to sell mutual funds under the supervision of the Financial Services Authority (OJK).
There were 7.95m mutual fund investors in Indonesia as of April 2022, up from 4.41m a year earlier, according to the Indonesia Stock Exchange and the Indonesia Central Securities Depository. The number of individuals investing directly in stocks rose 66.7% to 3.83m. This growth was driven by retail investors, yet fewer than one in 25 Indonesians have participated in the capital markets.
The notion of democratising public market investment has caught the attention of entrepreneurs and investors. Ajaib is the only other VC-backed player to achieve meaningful scale. Last October, DST Global led a USD 153m Series B for the company at a valuation of USD 1bn.
Bitbit will use its new funding to launch of new products and services, develop its technology offering, recruit top talent, and strengthen its financial education programs.
“We believe that everyone deserves a better future. We are here to enable Indonesians to participate in the capital market and help people achieve their financial goals through the right investment, said Sigit Kouwagam (pictured, right, with his co-founders), CEO and co-founder of Bibit, in a statement.
More on Southeast Asia
Latest News
Asian GPs slow implementation of ESG policies - survey
Asia-based private equity firms are assigning more dedicated resources to environment, social, and governance (ESG) programmes, but policy changes have slowed in the past 12 months, in part due to concerns raised internally and by LPs, according to a...
Singapore fintech start-up LXA gets $10m seed round
New Enterprise Associates (NEA) has led a USD 10m seed round for Singapore’s LXA, a financial technology start-up launched by a former Asia senior executive at The Blackstone Group.
India's InCred announces $60m round, claims unicorn status
Indian non-bank lender InCred Financial Services said it has received INR 5bn (USD 60m) at a valuation of at least USD 1bn from unnamed investors including “a global private equity fund.”
Insight leads $50m round for Australia's Roller
Insight Partners has led a USD 50m round for Australia’s Roller, a venue management software provider specializing in family fun parks.