LinkAja Announces Strategic Investment from Grab

Jakarta, November 10, 2020 - LinkAja, one of Indonesia’s leading fintech apps, today announced a strategic investment from Grab, Southeast Asia’s leading super app. Grab is leading the Series B round as a minority investor. This is LinkAja’s first investment from a private and major technology company. Simultaneously, this funding is also done by Telkomsel, BRI Ventura Investama, and Mandiri Capital Indonesia. The funds raised from this fundraising,  reaching a total commitment of up to approximately USD100 million, will be utilized to accelerate LinkAja’s growth aspirations, which is to become the national financial technology champion focused primarily on the middle class/ aspirant, and Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) segments in Indonesia.

Commenced its commercial operation on June 30th, 2019, LinkAja started as a combination of e-wallets, users, and use cases from leading Indonesian State-Owned Enterprises. Since then, LinkAja has rapidly developed its user and merchant base for e-payment services and built a fintech platform to enable digital financial services focused on Indonesia’s middle class/aspirant, and Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) segments in Indonesia. LinkAja currently has more than 58 million registered users, and more than 80% of users come from Indonesia’s Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities.

In April 2020, LinkAja launched Layanan Syariah LinkAja as the first and only sharia electronic money in Indonesia that has received a Sharia Conformity certification license from the National Sharia Council of the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) and Bank Indonesia. Within six months of launch, more than 1 million users had registered with the Sharia platform. 

The strategic investment from Grab provides a wide range of potential synergies and collaborative opportunities for both parties. Synergy and collaboration in terms of ecosystem access and technology will accelerate and improve financial inclusion to all Indonesian society.

The successful fundraise despite the COVID-19 pandemic bears testament to the confidence in LinkAja’s business model, which is underpinned by the following core strengths and competitive advantages:

1. Backed by a powerful shareholder base with Indonesia’s most successful SOEs, LinkAja is one of the few fintech startups in the world founded by SOEs. This strategic collaboration reflects the confidence and trust from multinational investors to invest in a fintech startup founded by Indonesian SOEs   

2. The Unique business model which enjoys an extensive ecosystem through its strategic SOE partnerships, local government, and also private sectors with a wide range of partners ranging from financial institutions, telecommunication, energy and transportation, e-commerce platform, retail including traditional retail, education, and others that serve the daily needs of Indonesians.

3. Privileged with a hyperlocal knowledge base and nationwide distribution network, with extensive coverage in Indonesia’s Tier 2 and 3 cities and more than one million cash-in/cash-out transaction points throughout Indonesia.

4. Innovative product offerings with strong brands that quickly develops into an iconic local fintech platform.

5. Fast becoming a daily essential for Indonesians, and is the accepted mode of payment for thousands of merchants, top e-commerce players, and various means of transportation.

Amid the difficulties of economic challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic, LinkAja was able to grow its Gross Transaction Value (“GTV”) and the number of transactions in the third quarter of the year 2020 (July ~ September) both by ~3x compared with the same period last year. This further showcases the ability of the strong local management team and highlights the resilience of LinkAja’s unique business model.  

Haryati Lawidjaja, CEO of LinkAja, said, "We are very excited to have Grab as one of our shareholders. We believe that the strategic cooperation supported by Grab's investment and technology expertise will strengthen LinkAja's services in giving effective solutions to provide access to finance and economy for Indonesians. We are also very grateful for the trust and support of all shareholders and the Ministry of SOEs. This Series B investment from Grab, Telkomsel, BRI Venture, and Mandiri Capital is a vote of confidence for our business model and achievements since one year ago LinkAja was established. We continue to welcome new investors and partners from various sectors to be a part of LinkAja's mission in realizing our big goals of encouraging financial and economic inclusion, as well as accelerating Indonesia's national economic growth."

“Grab, together with the Ministry of State-Owned Enterprises and its relevant SOE stakeholders, are committed to helping Indonesia’s startups to grow and thrive. Cash is still king in Indonesia, and there are millions of Indonesians who remain invisible to traditional banking systems. We chose to invest in LinkAja because we believe that together we can help accelerate our shared goal of improving financial inclusion in Indonesia. The strategic collaboration between LinkAja and our ecosystem which includes partners like OVO and Tokopedia will allow us to bring cashless services to all Indonesians in a way that is trusted, convenient and accessible,” said Neneng Goenadi, Managing Director of Grab Indonesia.

Credit Suisse and Hiswara Bunjamin & Tandjung acted as exclusive placement agent and legal counsel to LinkAja, and Hadiputranto, Hadinoto & Partners acted as legal counsel to Grab, for this fund-raising.