Akseleran Pursues Profitability in 2021 After Achieving Series A Funding from Beenext

Akseleran, a Peer to Peer (P2P) lending platform focused on MSME financing in Indonesia, announced it had won Series A funding of US $ 8.55 million (around Rp116 billion) from several investors led by Beenext.

Other investors involved were Central Capital Venture (CCV), venture units owned by Bank Central Asia (BCA), and Access Ventures, and Agaeti Venture Capital. A local conglomerate, Ahabe Group also participated in the Akseleran funding round.

The news about the Akseleran Series A funding has actually been blowing since late last year. However, the management at that time was not ready to confirm until obtaining certainty of an operational permit from the Financial Services Authority (OJK), which finally came out in December 2019.

Ivan Tambunan as CEO & Co-Founder of Akseleran said, the support of venture capital networks from Beenext, Access Ventures and Agaeti will provide more insight and experience to Akseleran. CCV is also expected to create synergy with BCA in the banking and financial industry.

The plan, Akseleran will use the funds for several things, such as increasing the capacity of the team, developing special loan products that meet the needs of MSMEs, investing in technology to improve automation, and, penetrating deeper into the wider MSME market.

Ivan through an official statement stated, so far Akseleran has supported the financing of thousands of MSMEs. Where most of the financing facilities are in the form of invoice financing and pre-invoice financing.

In 2020, the Akseleran is Targeting Loans up to 2 Trillion

Since it was first established in 2017, Akseleran has disbursed loans totaling more than Rp966 billion. Where Rp706 billion of which was distributed throughout 2019. This year, the Akseleran is targeting to channel loans to Rp2 trillion.

“We want to open more access for everyone to become lenders, while supporting MSMEs and getting higher investment returns through a safe and efficient platform,” Ivan said.

The total loan disbursed is indeed below the target of Rp 1 trillion in 2019. Ivan explained, it happened because non-performing loans (NPLs) increased after the Idul Fitri holiday.

The startup is targeting to channel loans of Rp 2 trillion this year. That way, cumulatively, financing is targeted to reach Rp 3 trillion from 2017 to 2020.

Ivan is optimistic that the target can be achieved because the untapped market is still quite large. He noted, lending by fintech lending last year increased 2.5-fold on an annual basis (year on year / yoy).

To achieve the target of lending Rp 2 trillion this year, the company added a sales team. “We added in Surabaya and Samarinda. Because the market is underserved (not yet fully served), “said Ivan.

Akseleran Plans for Additional Investment Continuation

Akseleran has targeted profitability in 2021. To achieve this, they plan to raise additional investment, which will be carried out in the third quarter of this year. The amount of fundraising needs is estimated at around US $ 15 million to US $ 20 million (Rp273.6 billion).

Teruhide Sato as Beenext Managing Partner said, Akseleran has a strong long-term vision to empower MSMEs. According to him, most MSMEs in Indonesia are still not served by conventional loan providers, making it difficult to grow and develop their business.

“We believe that using this technology can significantly improve the economy in markets such as Indonesia,” Teruhide said.

Teruhide also confident that Akseleran has the capacity and ability to implement its vision for millions of MSMEs in this country.

Beenext is a venture capital company based in Singapore that specializes in investing in early stage companies. The company managed by Teruhide Sato, Hirori Maeda and Dirk Van Quaquebeke are actively investing in startups in various regions such as India, Southeast Asia, Japan and the United States.