Komunal is meeting potential clients in Indonesia's rural areas, where they already are. More than 220 banks in 19 different provinces are partners of the fintech. This year's newest company has already announced an impressive $8.5 million in fundraising from investors including East Ventures Growth Fund, AlphaTrio Sustainable Technology Fund, Skystar Capital, Sovereign's Capital, Ozora, and Gobi Partners.
Banks in rural areas of Indonesia are referred to as BPRs (Bank Perkreditan Rakyat). The DepositoBPR platform developed by Komunal enables customers of these BPRs to do banking activities online, such as making deposits and applying for loans, rather than visiting a physical branch. Komunal's peer-to-peer lending platform links micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) with lenders, and it's called DepositoPR.
The company claims that in 2022, it was able to increase its platform's annual deposit and loan volume to BPRs and MSMEs by 350%, from $50 million in 2021 to IDR 3.6 billion (about USD 230 million). The company has had positive EBITDA since October 2022 and projects a transaction volume of over USD 500 million this year.
Located in Surabaya, East Java, Komunal was established three years ago as a platform for funding small and medium-sized enterprises. CEO Hendry Lieviant told TechCrunch that the company initially benefited from a lack of competition since most lending fintechs were headquartered in Jakarta, but that they later discovered that a lack of data and the mentality of Indonesian SMEs would restrict its growth.
Indonesia's 1,500 BPRs provided yet another window of opportunity. Lieviant said that although the area has a good local connection, its recent performance has been lackluster due to its inability to keep up with digitalization. Together, they only accounted for around 2% of the Indonesian banking industry, despite this promising sector's enormous potential.
DepositoBPR is an app that allows users to interact with banks. Customers may choose the rural bank and deposit package that best suits their needs, then open an online account and deposit funds instantly. According to Lieviant, they may also acquire government-guaranteed deposits at higher interest rates.
The fresh capital will allow Komunal to expand its core banking system for rural banks and expand the marketing of its DepositoBPR product. The company also stated that they will continue to hire for executive positions and announced the appointment of Dr. Peter Jacobs, a former executive director of Bank Indonesia, as their commissioner.
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