Akulaku is one of Southeast Asia’s top digital financial and banking platforms. Through digital banking, digital lending, digital investment, and insurance brokerage services, Akulaku aims to assist underprivileged consumers in emerging markets with their everyday financial needs.
According to CEO William Li, the Alibaba-backed company will use the money to pay off some of its existing debts, as reported by Reuters.
This most recent debt financing comes after Akulaku received $200 million in December 2022 from the banking division of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG), a company based in Japan. The company had raised $100 million from Siam Commercial Bank (SCB) in Thailand in February of that year.
Read also – OpenStamp Secures Seed Funding
Founded in 2016, Akulaku is a multi-finance organization that provides digital banking, consumer lending, and buy now, pay later (BNPL) services. For BNPL services in Indonesia, it collaborates with several lenders including Bank Jago, Bank Neo Commerce, Bank OCBC Indonesia, and Bank Permata. Among other places, Akulaku’s services are available on Bukalapak, TikTok, and Ruangguru.
As to Efrinal Sinaga, President Director of Akulaku Finance Indonesia, the company has set a growth target of 20% this year for pay-later financing, up from 9 trillion rupiah ($527 million) last year.
Since 2014, BNPL has increased in Indonesia. Indonesia’s Financial Services Authority (OJK) statistics shows that from 4.63 million in 2019, to 80 million in 2023, there were nearly 20 times as many BNPL contracts. However, as of the end of last year, multifinance’s total assets were at 552 trillion rupiah, of which the cumulative assets of BNPL contributed just 2%.
Read also – India’s Ultrahuman Secures $35M in Equity and debt investment
In addition to its home nation of Indonesia, the corporation operates in the Philippines, Malaysia, and Thailand.
OJK placed limitations on Akulaku’s operations in October of last year because of suspected breaches of supervisory duties pertaining to its BNPL services. It has been revealed that among these infractions are rules pertaining to risk management and corporate governance.
With Bank Neo Commerce, an Indonesian neo-banking venture with over 25 million subscribers, Akulaku was a pioneer in the field. Individuals, MSMEs, and companies make up its clientele. Along with Bank Jago and SeaBank Indonesia, Bank Neo Commerce is one of the major participants in the digital banking space.
About Akulaku
Akulaku Group, is Southeast Asia’s top digital financial and banking platform, present in Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, and Indonesia.
