Startup Bibit Receives Funding from Sequoia and EV Growth

The mutual fund investment startup, Bibit, raised US$ 30 million or around Rp. 418 billion from Sequoia Capital. This fresh fund will be used to attract users from beginner investors. Apart from Sequoia, East Ventures, EV Growth, AC Ventures and 500 Startups are participating in the funding round.

“We are excited to realize Bibit’s potential in helping Indonesians achieve financial goals,” said VP of Sequoia Capital India Rohit Agarwal, quoted in a press release, Tuesday (5/1).

Moreover, he noted that the global community, including Indonesia, began to shift away from savings and investment in gold and property, towards mutual funds or stocks. Therefore, he saw that Seedling services were increasingly needed.

Willson Cuaca, co-founder and Managing Partner of East Ventures added, the investment aims to encourage Bibit to dominate the mutual fund application market. “We believe this funding will encourage the growth of Bibit and strengthen its position as the leading investment platform in Indonesia,” he said.

Bibit President Director Sigit Kouwagam said the fresh funds would be used for service development and targeting novice investors. Moreover, data from the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) and the Indonesian Central Securities Depository (KSEI) show that the number of retail investors in Indonesia will grow 56% annually (year on year / yoy) in 2020.

This increase was contributed by millennials. As many as 92% of novice investors are 21-40 years old. This segment is deemed suitable for using the Seed platform. This is because 90% of the users of this application are dominated by millennial investors.

Records User Growth from the Retail Investor Segment

This year, the company also recorded a growth in users from the retail investor segment. The transaction value has also increased more than 10 times over the past year. Even so, Sigit noted that the participation of beginner investors in the capital market was less than 2%.

“We believe that all Indonesians deserve a better future. Encouraging the habit of investing in the right way is one way to make it happen,” he said. Based on DailySocial research, Bibit is the most preferred mutual fund investment application in the country.

Bibit is part of the investment startup Stockbit, which was founded in 2013. Stockbit launched Bibit, which is based on robo advisors, in early 2019. This application allows investors to invest starting from IDR 10 thousand.

In 2019, Stockbit secured series A funding led by East Ventures. Other investors participating are Convergence Ventures, FreakOut, and previous investors such as 500 Startups, Ideosource, and Braavos Ventures.

Bibit Leads as a Popular Investment Platform in Indonesia

At least 12 digital investment service applications or platforms are fairly popular among Indonesians. This was revealed in a DSResearch survey entitled Fintech Report 2020 ‘Maintaining Growth during Pandemic’ related to financial technology platforms (fintech), Sunday (27/12/2020).

The research, which was held with CIMB Niaga, Ayoconnect, and Investree, involved 1,434 divided respondents who really understood and knew about fintech (8.6 percent), knew and understood (18.5 percent), and knew enough (20.6 percent). and 52.3 percent have no awareness of fintech.

Of the 700 respondents who understand fintech, awareness of investment fintech services has actually reached 57.3 percent. Only lost to fintech digital wallets (82.2 percent) and paylaters (72.5 percent).

At least, the survey proves that there are four platforms that are known by about half of the respondents. Mutual Funds Selling Agent (APERD) Bibit.id dominates with the total awareness level of 65.8 percent. It’s followed by Bareksa with 50.3 percent, E-mas with 47.7 percent, and Tanamduit with 46.7 percent.

As for the top of mind, or respondents themselves who know and mention the name of the platform, Bibit also dominates by being known by 21.7 percent of respondents. Its competitor, Bareksa, was again runner-up with 6.6 percent, followed by mutual fund and stock investment platform Ajaib.co.id in third place with 2.3 percent.