Sequoia Capital India Again Leads Funding for Seeds, Now Books 938 Billion Rupiah

The startup developer of the mutual fund investment platform, Bibit, today (03/5) again announced the acquisition of funding worth $65 million or equivalent to 938 billion Rupiah. Sequoia Capital India is back at the helm of this funding, having previously led the way acquisition of $30 million Seeds at the beginning of this year. Prosus Ventures, Tencent and Harvard Management Company were involved in the round, as well as previous investors including AC Ventures and East Ventures.

The fresh funds will be focused on launching new products/features, developing technology, recruiting employees, and increasing public education regarding investment.

According to IDX and KSEI data, the number of retail investors in Indonesia grew 78% YoY in 2020 to 3,2 million investors. This increase was contributed by millennials; 92% of new investors in 2020. In the first quarter of 2021 alone, there was an additional 1 million mutual fund investors registered in the capital market. Despite a significant increase, currently the participation of the Indonesian people in the capital market is still less than 2%.

"Previously, the capital market in Indonesia was considered a scary place to invest, and only for a certain group of people. Bibit used technology to make investing more accessible to everyone, including novice investors. Therefore, we see a sharp increase in investment. retail investors are interested in the capital market," said Director Bibit Sigit Kouwagam.

He further added, "We believe that all Indonesians deserve a better future. Helping to increase financial inclusion and encourage investment habits in the right way is one way to make it happen. We are very proud to have the support of our partners and investors to make this happen. speed up the mission."

The seeds themselves have acquired by Stockbit since 2019. Stockbit is known as an information service about the capital market. The Seed Platform is designed as "robo-advisor" mutual funds in Indonesia, helping investors to have portfolios according to their risk profile and investment objectives. From the data provided, 90% of Bibit users are millennial investors who previously had no experience in investing.

One of the rivals for mutual fund applications is Ajaib. Not long ago Magic just announced the acquisition Series A funding worth IDR 1,3 trillion led by Ribbit Capital. In addition, there is also Bareksa, an investment platform that has now joined and integrated with the OVO group. Temporary unicorn Bukalapak is also preparing their "new engine" PT Buka Investasi Bersama to focus on serving mutual fund investments for millions of customers on the platform online marketplace.

In the survey we did In the middle of 2020, mutual funds (67%) became the most desirable investment instrument to buy digitally. Followed by gold (62,7%), stocks (44,5%), P2P lending (16,3%), and bonds (11,5%). Regarding the consideration of choosing this type of investment, respondents answered that this was in accordance with their risk profile (48,8%), new to learning (24,4%), friend recommendation (10,4%), and most familiar (8,1%). ).