AwanTunai as a business solution platform for traditional offline wholesalers and micro merchants has raised $11.2 million in fresh equity funding from BRI Ventures and OCBC NISP Ventura as new investors, with existing investors Insignia Ventures and Global Brains, among others participating in the round.
Accial Capital and Bank OCBC NISP have also extended debt and channeling facilities amounting to over $45 million to support the group’s Indonesian fintech business.
In addition, with its licensed fintech platform, AwanTunai provides inventory purchase financing to FMCG suppliers and micro grocery merchants. This series A2 funding will be used to fund national expansion in continuing AwanTunai’s commitment to advance and empower Indonesian micro SMEs by providing affordable and fast access to financing.
“AwanTunai is building the data infrastructure to digitize offline inventory purchase transactions. Such data is effective for credit risk management and opens up traditionally underserved micro SMEs to access affordable institutional working capital from our banking partners. We hope AwanTunai becomes the platform that enables the entire Indonesian banking industry to reach the millions of traditional SMEs that have previously been difficult to serve”, said Chief Executive Officer, Dino Setiawan.
As of July 2021, AwanTunai have worked with over 160 supplier partners to help traditional wholesalers digitize and finance their operations, also providing their micro SME warung customers with affordable inventory purchase financing and integrated online ordering via the AwanToko mobile app. AwanTunai has served over 8,000 micro merchant users, with an increasing number of users coming from tier 2 and 3 cities in Indonesia.
“Millions of underbanked MSMEs play a crucial role for the economy, we believe support and access capital will strengthen and help them persevere in this pandemic. AwanTunai is providing these underserved MSMEs with better access of working capital. We are proud to continue our support to AwanTunai for elevating the MSME role in Indonesia,” said Darryl Ratulangi, Managing Director of OCBC NISP Ventura.
The success of raising investment funds amid the COVID-19 pandemic is proof of investors’ confidence in the AwanTunai business. “AwanTunai shares a similar customer profile with Bank BRI. By empowering micro merchants, which are the backbone of the Indonesian economy, AwanTunai has been helping small businesses sustain and grow their businesses through these especially turbulent times. We are looking forward to collaborating further with AwanTunai to reach more traditionally underserved SMEs,” said Nicko Widjaja, CEO of BRI Ventures.
“Supporting supply chain and MSME resiliency is a top-of-mind priority during the crisis. AwanTunai’s data edge has enabled their ecosystem of suppliers and cash-dominated micro-merchants to achieve greater revenues and better cash flow management through their platform,” said Chief Investment Officer of Accial Capital, Michael Shum. “Their strong execution through the pandemic is a big reason we are proud to reaffirm our commitment to their vision by upsizing our investment to support the team in their next stage of growth.”
Micro SME can purchase their inventory online via the AwanToko mobile app are able to access affordable financing through a simple process of registering with their national identity cards (KTP). – AsiaPEVCnews.com
