Yosia Sugialam Describes Paper.id's Journey to Becoming a Profitable Business

The pandemic has significantly accelerated digitalization in Indonesia. This is also felt by startups that focus on B2B payment platforms, Paper.id. After more than 3 years of focusing on educating the market, entering its 7th year the company is starting to reap the rewards.

Founded by Yosia Sugialam and Jeremy Limman at the end of 2016, the idea for Paper.id originated from anxiety about the continuity of the family business. Apart from having the same interest in technology, both of them also have a background in B2B business. At that time, technology was developing rapidly. However, they feel that technology implementation is still not optimal in the B2B realm.

In a joint interview DailySocial.id, Yosia revealed how the initial idea of ​​forming Paper.id was that it started with Yosia's good intention to offer new clients for his family business, but was rejected on the grounds that it would disrupt company. This is quite surprising, because usually businesses will be very happy if they get new clients.

Joshua also talked about the complexity of B2B transactions. Apart from transactions or money movements which are still manual, there are two quite significant issues in the series of B2B transactions, namely documents and tempo. In an effort to digitize B2B payments, some feel that invoice those issued digitally without a stamp are not valid.

In addition, there is a general practice in this industry regarding the time that can be given for payments made. This is similar to the tenor in credit payments. This practice can have an impact on if it cannot be managed well.

"These three things happened problem major in B2B payment which we try solve in Paper.id, including helping beg get paid more quickly, and help buyers control their payments. "Apart from that, we also want to encourage this industry so that it can transform well and perfectly," said Josia.

Expand services through business collaboration

Paper.id officially launched its presence to the public in 2018, offering tools invoice, Accountingand inventory. As the business grows, Paper.id is increasingly expanding its services through collaboration with various parties, one of which is BNI to make it easier for clients from corporate partners to make payments. invoice through scan QR code.

Apart from BNI, Paper.id has also collaborated with several financial institutions to offer funding programs for MSMEs that are effective and give them control over managing the tempo of their activities. beg nor buyer.

For buyer, they can get longer payment terms through the product Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) for B2B. For those who have long tempo problems, beg can get disbursement invoice faster than maturity with a product called Get Paid Faster.

Not long ago, VISA Indonesia and Paper.id established an agreement strategic partnership through the appointment of Paper.id as one of the business payment provider partners (Business Payment Solution Provider/BPSP). Not only that, Paper.id also collaborates with BRI to present the innovative credit card "PAPERCARD".

Regarding segmentation, Josia also revealed that currently Paper.id is targeting B2B SMEs from cities tier 1 & 2. Credit card penetration in this area is also greater, but not yet optimal. This is what initiated the presence of the "PAPERCARD" business credit card.

Regarding the issue of documents without stamps which is a concern for B2B businesses, Paper.id has also collaborated with Perum Peruri to provide e-stamps or electronic stamps for the general public, especially for billing invoices or invoice.

"Even though we focus on B2B payments, if you think about it, almost all businesses carry out B2B transactions. For example, restaurants or retail, they also take goods to suppliers. More details about the segmentation, that's it sweetspot We are an MSME with under 50 employees. "But in the last 1,5 years or so, we have also entered into corporations," he explained.

Techwinter at Paper.id

In 2016-2018, there were quite a lot of Paper.id users, the impact of the system implementation hyperlocal on the platform. Paper.id started by offering features freemium with the aim of inviting users who previously still used manual methods to shift towards digital, and can be enjoyed for free.

However, not all features are provided for free. To be able to access more complete features, users are required to subscribe to Paper Plus. Paper.id will take it fee of every payment that is successfully processed.

For almost 7 years of existence, Joshua admitted that, "what is difficult is not digitalization invoice-it, but rather digitalizes its payments. Buyers are 'forced' to pay digitally because invoice-it's digital."

The pandemic that arrived in mid-March 2020 apparently not only brought disaster but also enlightenment for the progress of digitalization in Indonesia. Not only in user businesses, but also in partner businesses, such as VISA and PERURI, digital transformation is truly being realized.

Apart from that, support from the government for the progress of digitalization is also increasingly evident, one of which is by issuing and supporting electronic stamps. Previously, many businesses still refused invoice digital because there is no stamp. After e-stamps were inaugurated, we also became one of the partners for e-stamps in invoicing.

Related issues TechWinter which is still happening now, Josia revealed that he really empathizes with startup friends who are still going through difficult times. However, he admitted that this condition was not completely bad.

"As is market correction, the market is now so much more make sense. The company that owns it fundamental good and understand that its users will continue to grow. By market"The calibration is good, because in the future it will be better and the competition will be healthier," said Josia.

Josiah also revealed that, "tech winter at Paper.id this is not happening now, but in 2018-2020. We're going in ahead of its time, conducting market education, even to investors, it is still difficult to provide business understanding."

However, continued Josiah, that was precisely what trained them to make Paper different, more frugal, building stronger relationships to businesses, can cross collaboration, too control hiring. Then at this time, he and his team can start enjoying the results of their hard work so far.

"technically, we don't feel Winter. In fact, even now we still are hiring and now you could say the cheapest time for us going aggressive," said Josiah.

In terms of targets, Josia admitted that he didn't want to be grandiose, he just wanted the impact of their services to be felt throughout Indonesia. Returning to the initial problem, so that business people no longer worry messy and repels customers. When there is technology and supporting services, control and power become more balanced between each other beg, buyer, and its main SME business.

By 2022, Paper.id claims the number of users has grown almost 3x compared to before. Amount invoice those that have been processed have reached the highest level of more than IDR 9 trillion, this figure is claimed to have doubled from the same period when the pandemic began. The company also claims to have positive unit economics.

As the business develops, the company has also received funding through several stages. Golden Gate Ventures was involved in two of Paper.id's initial funding rounds. In late 2022, the company also announced funding series B led by Argor Capital (formerly Go-Ventures), followed by BM Capital, Skystar Capital, PT Kaya Alam International, Living Lab Ventures, and Redbadge Pacific.