Pockets Series C Funding of 404 Billion Rupiah, CekAja's Parent Business Expands to Thailand

CekAja's parent company, C88 Fintech Technologies, announced the acquisition of a Series C fresh fund of $28 million (over 404 billion Rupiah) from a consortium of investors led by global information and analytics services fintech Experian. One of the steps taken to utilize these funds is to prepare for expansion to Thailand. Previously they also had a business in the Philippines called eCompareMo.

Other investors involved in this round of funding include ResponAbility Investments AG, DEG, InterVest, FengHe Fund Management, Pelago Capital, and Fuchsia Venture Capital. Also participating were previous investors, namely Monk's Hill Ventures, Telstra Ventures, Kickstart Ventures, and Kejora Ventures.

To DailySocial at the signing ceremony of a strategic partnership with ExperianJP Ellis, Co-Founder and Group CEO of C88 said, "This Experian-led investment has been going on for the last 8 months, but the introduction process has been carried out long before the investment is agreed upon.

Currently, his party has placed a team to approach and process the permit to the Thai government. If there are no obstacles, the process of finalizing the launch of the service will be completed immediately.

"Basically, CekAja and Experian have the same mission and commitment, which is to support financial inclusion and target consumers directly," said Ellis.

In addition, this new fund will be used by C88 to develop technology, implement digital onboarding to add new talents to accelerate business growth.

"At the same time, eCompareMo's financial product comparison and information service in the Philippines is also preparing to develop its business. Apart from focusing on services to consumers and revenue, we also plan to start focusing on mobile. We also continue to develop operationally, back office to data center, said Ellis.

The condition of fintech in Indonesia

According to Ellis, in Indonesia (and the Philippines) credit infrastructure has not been well developed. That's why the KTA and loan shark models have emerged.

"This is bad for the country, for society, and for financial institutions. Our focus in this funding round is to continue trying to solve this problem by moving away from an exclusive, inefficient, expensive and paper-based financial system for an inclusive, personalized, effective financial system cost-effectively, digitally and efficiently."

Ellis ensures that it continues to partner with banks and regulators, not compete against them.

Ellis said, "[Expansion into] Thailand is one of our business objectives, but not the only one. Fortunately we have trusted global investors and business partners at Experian. Experian is an expert on these systems and services [such as Scoring and Decisioning Services] , so we have high confidence in the quality, reliability and impact of our services on the market."

"The focus should be on the millions of consumers who feel desperate because they have no choice [so they come to loan sharks]. This is the biggest proof there is a problem and the current system is not adequate. We offer a modern digital system so we can help solve this problem for the good of society," said Ellis.

Experian and investment plan

Prioritizing experience, business network, variety of products and services, Experian wants to apply technology to experience globally to a market that has potential like Indonesia.

To DailySocial, Experian Asia Pacific CEO Ben Elliott said, CekAja/C88 was chosen for investment after going through a long dialogue process.

"We have had previous dialogues with JP Ellis, but in the last 8 months the conversation has intensified and we have started to seriously talk about what we can do together, in this case providing investment. [In addition] Also strong commercial collaborations such as digital onboarding and the next phase how can we develop the technology anti-fraud in this industry," said Ben.

Ben continued, "So from that perspective why choose CekAja because we believe in their vision. We have also had a good look at their business and fully understand their technology and how Experian's technology can contribute."

Ellis added, "In addition to being one of the largest credit data and analytics services in the world, Experian is also a leader in digital onboarding, decision engines, fraud detection, electronic KYC, and many other critical functions. Experian has a global focus and has had considerable success in the industry. various markets, such as Brazil and India."

After CekAja/C88, Experian has plans to invest in other startups. Not only fintech services, but also other categories that are considered relevant and have potential.

"It's not just startups in Indonesia. We may later invest in startups in other countries," concluded Ben.