Bibit.id, a robo-advisor startup in Indonesia, announced today it has raised US$65 million in a funding round led by Sequoia Capital India.
Prosus Ventures (global consumer internet group), Tencent and Harvard Management Company, besides existing investors AC Ventures and East Ventures also joined the round.
The money will be used for the launch of new products, tech development, to acquire talents, and invest heavily to increase financial education.
The latest capital infusion comes just under four months after it secured US$30 million from Sequoia, East Ventures, EV Growth and 500 Startups.
Bibit was started in 2019 as a platform for investors to share trade ideas, news, and information in real time. In the current avatar, Bibit.id is a digital investing app with a robo-advisory service that helps first-time investors invest in mutual fund products.
Also Read: Bibit snags US$30M to expand its robo-advisory platform in Indonesia
The company is a licensed holder of Mutual Funds Selling Agent under the supervision of The Financial Services Authority (OJK). It offers Stockbit, a stock investing platform for millennials in Indonesia.
CEO Sigit Kouwagam commented: “Previously, the stock market was seen as an intimidating place to invest. Bibit is leveraging on technology to make investment accessible to everyone, including the inexperienced first-time investors. Therefore, we are seeing an accelerated interest from retail investors into the capital market.”
“Indonesian mutual fund customers have grown almost 10x in the past five years. Savings via mutual funds is the first step towards investing and Bibit has helped millions of consumers start their investing journey in a responsible manner,” said Rohit Agarwal, VP, Sequoia India.
Sachin Bhanot, Head of Southeast Asia Investments at Prosus Ventures, said: “The digital wealth management segment in Indonesia is at an inflection point, driven by the country’s millennial-led, mobile first economy. Bibit has been at the forefront of democratising access to wealth management products for a highly underserved retail investor base in Indonesia.”
Based on IDX and Central Custodian data, the number of mutual fund investors in Indonesia grew 78 per cent y-o-y in 2020 to 3.2 million. This growth was contributed primarily by millennials, who accounted for 92 per cent of the new investors in 2020.
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In Q1 2021 alone, more than one million new mutual fund investors came to the market. Despite this rapid growth, however, less than 2 per cent of Indonesians have participated in the capital market so far.
“We believe that all Indonesians deserve a better future. Enabling people to participate in the capital markets and helping them to make the right investments helps to achieve that. We are honoured to have strong support from our investor partners to accelerate this mission,” concluded Kouwagam.
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Image Credit: Bibit
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