8/1/2018 – Indonesia’s new stock-trading app Ajaib has just completed its US$2.1 million seed funding round co-led by SoftBank Ventures, Y Combinator, Alpha JWC, Insignia Ventures Partners, and an undisclosed former Sequoia Partner.
Ajaib CEO and co-founder Anderson Sumarli said that the fresh capital will be used to beef up its engineering team and product improvements.
Born out of Y Combinator (YC) startup incubator, Ajaib is a smart online application that aids Indonesians to invest in the stock market. The startup has already obtained a license from the Indonesian Financial Services Authority (OJK).
Given that only 0.4% of Indonesian population has ever invested, Ajaib aims to become the Ant Financial of wealth management in Indonesia by democratizing access to personal investment services for the country’s middle class.
In Indonesia, Ajaib will compete with existing players in the online investment space including Bareksa, a platform that offers services ranging from financial data to online tool to news and analysis on investment and market.
Ajaib becomes the latest Indonesian startup to be backed by SoftBank Ventures. The venture capital firm has previously invested in digital health startup Alodokter, co-working space EV Hive and e-commerce company Tokopedia.
Softbank Ventures is an early-stage investment vehicle of Japanese internet conglomerate SoftBank Group. It was previously known as SoftBank Ventures Korea but recently renamed itself as SoftBank Ventures Asia as it aims to increase investments globally with an emphasis on Asia.
The firm also said it is looking to expand its presence beyond Seoul, Beijing, San Francisco, and Tel Aviv by targeting to open offices and hire investment professionals in Singapore and Shanghai.
