Indonesian Fintech Startup Pluang Bags $3m in Series A

Indonesian financial technology (fintech) startup Pluang has announced raising $3 million in its Series A funding round anchored by Go-Ventures, the venture capital arm of Indonesian ride-hailing firm Go-Jek.

The funding comes as Pluang recently launched a gold savings product, its sole product currently. The startup said the fresh investment from Go-Ventures will be used to launch other products, which will include fixed return products and US dollar savings.

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Pluang’s gold product allows investments starting from 0.01 grams (equivalent to about US$0.50). The gold is kept in a government-backed institution through the official commodities exchange of Indonesia. It also allows users to safely access curated financial products without having to worry about hidden or exorbitant fees in just three taps.

The startup said its ultimate mission is to “democratise financial products for Indonesians”. To achieve that goal, Pluang will further improve its product and expand its distribution.

Pluang said it is one of the few fintech firms that try to help address the difficult problem of improving savings in the country. Indonesia has at least 167 fintech startups, with 38 percent operating in the payment sector and 31 percent in lending.

Most recently, Indonesian fintech startup SuperAtom raised $24 million in funding from a group of investors led by Gobi Partners, an early- to late-stage venture capital firm. Kredivo, an Indonesian digital credit platform, also secured up to $20 million in debt financing from Partners for Growth, a venture debt firm.

Pluang founder Claudia Kolonas said Indonesians are still underserved in terms of investment solutions and there is lack of access to financial products. Pluang, she said, aims to help consumers access more options for growing their savings.

Aditya Kumar, vice president of Investments at Go-Ventures, agreed with Kolonas. He said over 50 percent of Indonesia’s population does not have access to bank accounts and only a few have access to formal investment channels.[/ihc-hide-content]