Passing to Y Combinator, Finantier Starts Attracting New Investors for Initial Funding

Finantier, platform developer startup open finance, today (23/12) announced that it has been selected to join the Y Combinator acceleration program for batch Winter 2021 next year. At the same time, they also added to the ranks of investors who took part in their initial funding, namely Y Combinator and Two Culture Capital.

Previously, at the end of November 2020, the startup fronted by Diego Rojas, Keng Low, and Edwin Kusuma announced early-stage funding(pre-seed) led by East Ventures with participation from AC Ventures and Genesia Ventures.

For founder hopes that the joining of Finantier to YC is expected to absorb various Silicon Valley-style expertise to strengthen its business and products in the Southeast Asian market. On the other hand, they also become more confident because the issues they are trying to solve through the technology are indirectly validated.

"Y Combinator is a unique opportunity for us to accelerate growth with the help of world-class mentors, connect with some of the top early-stage investors, and build strategic partnerships for our future expansion plans," said Finantier CEO Diego Rojas.

Since receiving funding pre seed, Finantier have received about 20 clients in phase beta. They offer three main capabilities, namely identity verification (eKYC); help businesses manage raw data by machine learning (big data); and provide features to accommodate payments made on a regular basis or subscriptions. Services provided to players fintech, integrated via API mechanism.

Also added, funds from new investors will be focused on improving the team, technology and marketing. The presence of Y Combinator and Two Culture Capital into its business ranks is also seen as an opportunity to expand the scope of services, including outside Southeast Asia.

Indonesian Startups at Y Combinator

As of the beginning of this year, we noted that at least seven local startups had joined Y Combinator – in the second half of 2020, BukuWarung takes part in this program. It is undeniable that the acceleration program based in Mountain View is one of the catalysts for the birth of a leading digital startup. Dropbox, Stripe, Coinbase, Twitch, Reddit, Airbnb are some of the names of alumni of the program whose business is currently worldwide.

There is much to be learned from this program. Previously we have summarized in an article entitled "Comparative Study to Y Combinator Accelerator Program".

One of the testimonies was given by Co-Founder Shipper Budi Handoko who is a member of YC W19. He said, "The people at YC are all entrepreneur. By joining the program, we are increasingly recognized by partners, investors. This is an opportunity for us to validate our business top entrepreneurs. There we learned how to do business presentations very efficiently and effectively."

Co-Founder of Nustantara Tech & SuperApp.id Steven Wongsoredjo also admitted that he received nice experience from participating in the program. He shared, “YC's experience completely changed my mindset. They teach to make the simplest version of the product and launch it as quickly as possible. The aim is to test whether our thesis has a good fit in the market. Time is the most valuable commodity, so we have to make sure of it as quickly as possible, not just assume."