Standard Chartered Establishes Strategic Partnership with Bukalapak, Reportedly Investing 2,8 Trillion Rupiah (UPDATE)

Standard Chartered Bank today (14/1) announced its strategic partnership with Bukalapak to launch digital banking innovation. The realization is by integrating nexus, services banking-as-a-services (BaaS) owned by the bank, to the Bukalapak platform to reach a wider range of users.

Specifically, the company stated that there are two areas to focus on. First, bringing innovation in the financial and financial sector E-commerce through the Bukalapak ecosystem. Second, encouraging financial inclusion to reach 100 million users and 13,5 million SMEs on the Bukalapak platform.

We have tried to confirm whether through this cooperation any investment commitments have been made. However, Bukalapak is still reluctant to give a response.

However, according to sources coil, as a result of this collaboration, Bukapalak received funding worth $200 million or equivalent to 2,8 trillion Rupiah from Standard Chartered. Funds of that size are rumored to be used for expansion.

Previously, Bukalapak also established similar strategic cooperation with Microsoft for optimizing cloud computing services and digital literacy programs – followed by Microsoft's investment commitment to Bukalapak.

"This strategic partnership demonstrates Standard Chartered's belief in Bukalapak's mission and commitment to creating impact across Indonesia. Trade and financial services are important aspects of people's welfare, therefore this partnership enhances our spirit to create a fair economy in Indonesia. With a banking network With a strong global presence and a prestigious financial services business, Standard Chartered's participation in Bukalapak will further strengthen our current ranks of shareholders and strategic partners," said Bukalapak CEO Rachmat Kaimuddin.

Last October 2020, Standard Chartered also announced a similar collaboration with beauty commerce Sociolla. The realization is the same, it will implement nexus to enable Sociolla users to get financial services such as opening a savings account, applying for loans, and credit cards. The target is that the service will be live by the end of 2021.

The Nexus BaaS product itself has been initiated since March 2020 under Standard Chartered's venture unit, SC Ventures. They are quite aggressive in developing digital solutions, both independently and in collaboration with other companies. Besides Nexus, there are also Mox (virtual banks), SOLV (MSME platforms), and Zodia (digital asset custodians) which are currently in the portfolio. SC Ventures too invest in startups fintech globally, from SoCash, Metaco, Symphony, to Ripple.

Andrew Chia, Cluster CEO of Indonesia & ASEAN Markets Standard Chartered said, "Our inaugural partnership with Bukalapak reaffirms Standard Chartered's commitment to growing our footprint locally. We are confident that our partnership with one of the unicorn first and player E-commerce Indonesia's leading company will enable us to jointly create solutions that drive financial inclusion in Indonesia."

Many collaborations between banking and digital platforms have been initiated. Previously there was also partnership from BRI and Grab, allowing users to open accounts via the platform ride hailing the. Moreover, currently the tech giants in Southeast Asia are also starting to get serious about the financial business. Not enough in the segment digital wallets course, but the direction is towards digital banks. Call it done Gojek by investing in Bank Jago. Or Sea's corporate action acquired Economic Welfare Bank.

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Update: we update the title and content of the article with the addition of information about funding.

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