Inaugurating Co-working Fintech Space, UnionSpace Marks Presence in Indonesia

Co-working space operator UnionSpace (formerly Cre8) inaugurated its presence in Indonesia by launching the Fintech Space co-working space in Jakarta specifically for fintech. The new office is targeted to be officially operational in June 2018.

In its presence, UnionSpace collaborates with local partners such as the Indonesian Fintech Association (Aftech), Kejora Ventures, and Gan Konsulindo. Through this strategic alliance, UnionSpace will develop a collaborative network that includes GK-Plug and Play Indonesia and the Founder Institute. Also immediately launched several international startup acceleration programs.

"We are enthusiastic to be part of the growth of the business ecosystem in Indonesia. One of them is in the fintech industry. We believe Indonesia will be one of the motors for the growth of the Southeast Asian market. Through Fintech Space, we support the rapid progress of fintech and the wave of entrepreneurial awakening in the field of Such a big fintech," said UnionSpace CEO Albert Goh in an official statement.

According to Albert, Fintech Space is expected to be a forum for collaboration between fintech stakeholders, including association members, regulators, financial companies, venture capital companies, and startups themselves.

In addition, this place will host a number of fintech activities in the form of educational sessions and knowledge sharing to support capacity building for business actors.

Aftech Chairman Niki Luhur added, Fintech Space can be a place for collaboration, exchanging ideas and solutions as a means to give birth to new innovations, as well as becoming a center for network development to accelerate the growth of the fintech industry in Indonesia.

"This kind of public space is needed to help accelerate the work of fintech players, so that they can fulfill the priority of the national financial inclusion agenda, which is to open access to financial services for at least 75% of the Indonesian population," said Niki.

The currently registered members of Aftech are 137 members, consisting of 114 fintech startup companies and 23 financial institutions.

UnionSpace itself first came with the name Cre8 Community + Workspace. In October 2017, received investment from Kejora Ventures and Gan Konsulindo with an undisclosed amount. After new investors came in, Cre8 in Indonesia and a number of other brands in Southeast Asia were fully transformed into UnionSpace.

So far, UnionSpace operates in five locations in Jakarta, three locations in Manila, and one location in Malaysia. In addition, it also has an online community platform "Enterprenity" which accommodates about 24 thousand users from all over the world.

Regarding UnionSpace's expansion, Albert targets this year to add more than 20 locations in major Southeast Asian cities that will be managed independently.