Credit Saison has committed up to $60 million in series B funding to Indonesian micro-credit and peer-to-peer lender Julo, according to a DealStreetAsia article Monday.
The Japanese consumer finance company Credit Saison invested $30 million in Julo’s series B2 shares, and was issued options to acquire another $30 million in series B3 shares, said the report, which cited Julo’s filings with Singapore’s Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA).
DealStreetAsia estimated Julo ‘s latest fund raising round valued the company at $200 million.
Other investors in Julo have included Convergence Ventures, East Ventures, Provident Capital, Quona Capital, Gobi Partners and Skystar Capital, according to data from Crunchbase.
Providing Unsecured Loans
Julo provides unsecured loans using an app, which offers a simpler application process and relatively lower interest rates of 6 percent to 10 percent a month. Within Asia, traditional interest rates run far higher.
Loan size limits run up to IDR8 million, or around $555, according to Julo’s website.
In 2020, Julo acquired a permanent peer-to-peer lender permit from Indonesia’s Financial Services Authority (OJK).
Large Unbanked Population
Indonesia posted a 44 percent on-year increase in the use of selected mobile banking apps for the January-to-September 2020 period, according to the Google, Temasek and Bain e-Conomy report for 2020.
According to data in the 2019 e-Conomy report, published pre-Covid, Indonesia had 92 million unbanked adults and 47 million who were underbanked, or who had a bank account but no access to credit, investments or insurance. Indonesia’s total population was around 273.5 million in 2020.
