Indonesia’s Kredivo raises $270m Series D

It is the largest disclosed investment in a privately held Southeast Asia technology company since BlackRock led a USD 300m pre-IPO round for Indonesian travel platform Traveloka last September. It also comes as global macro conditions begin to weigh heavily on regional valuations.

Existing investors Square Peg Capital, Jungle Ventures, GMO Venture Partners, Openspace Ventures, and Naver re-upped. The round has been described as significantly oversubscribed. Mizuho entities are LPs in funds managed by Jungle and Openspace.

It brings total funding since the company’s inception in 2016 to at least USD 770m, according to AVCJ Research, including a USD 140m round at a USD 1.6bn valuation last October featuring Square Peg, Jungle, GMO, and Openspace. Cathay Innovation, Endeavor Catlayst, and Mirae Asset Private Equity also contributed to that round.

Jungle and GMO are among the company’s earliest investors, having backed a USD 1.1m seed round in 2016 alongside 500 Startups and Alpha JWC Ventures. Previous investors also include MDI Ventures, Kejora Capital, DST Global, InterVest, Singtel Innov8, Corbin Capital Partners, Marchall Wace, Maso Capital Partners, SV Investment Partners, and Victory Park Capital.

Kredivo agreed to merge with a US-listed special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) managed by Victory Park in 2021 at a valuation of USD 2bn. The SPAC valued Kredivo at 6.3x projected revenue for 2022 (USD 320m); annual revenue when the merger was agreed was USD 74m.

The deal was called off in March last year with both parties citing adverse public market conditions. Victory Park subsequently led a USD 145m structured investment in Kredivo as per the termination agreement.

Kredivo’s offering spans online and offline buy now, pay later (BNPL) services, personal loans, and credit cards (both physical and virtual). Indonesia and Vietnam are the largest markets.

The company is considered a pioneer in BNPL, the largest player in this space in Indonesia, and one of the more successful operators regionally in terms of navigating the segment’s inherent challenges around establishing product-market fit and sustainable unit economics.

Kredivo claims its BNPL service is available across “the entirety of Indonesia’s retail commerce network with one of the lowest interest rates amongst digital credit providers in the country.” Earlier this year, it partnered with Shell Indonesia in what was called the country’s first-ever BNPL option for fuel purchases.

In March last year, Kredivo acquired a 75% stake in Indonesia’s Bank Bisnis Internasional for about USD 200m, repurposing the business as its digital banking unit under the name Krom Bank. The Series D will be used in part to support the imminent launch of a customer-facing neobank called Krom.

“Kredivo has a stellar track record in Southeast Asia, leveraging on its deep data partnerships to promote financial inclusion within Indonesia and Southeast Asia, while maintaining bank-like risk metrics and building a capital-efficient business model,” Daisuke Horiuchi, deputy head of the retail and business banking division at Mizuho, said in a statement.

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• Topics
• Southeast Asia
• Financials
• Technology
• Consumer
• Expansion
• Indonesia
• Square Peg Capital
• Jungle Ventures
• GMO Ventures
• Openspace Ventures
• Naver
• Financial Services
• Fintech