Bibit’s Plans after Raising IDR 939 Billion from Sequoia and Tencent

Startup Bibit has raised IDR 939 billion or US$ 65 million of fund led by Sequoia Capital, India. This funding round will be used to launch new products and recruit digital talent.

Apart from Sequoia Capital India, several other investors who also joined this funding round are Prosus Ventures, Tencent, and Harvard Management Company. Previous investors such as AC Ventures and East Ventures also participated in this funding round.

Bibit CEO Sigit Kouwagam said the funds raised would be used for new product launches. However, he still keeps the new product that he will launch a secret.

In addition, Bibit also plans to utilize funding for technology development, digital talent acquisition, and invest heavily in improving financial literacy.

“Bibit uses technology to make investments that can be accessed by everyone, including inexperienced novice investors,” said Sigit in a press release on Monday (3/5). This is the second funding round to enter Bibit throughout 2021.

Bibit Has Received Funding in January

Previously, in January, Bibit announced that they had received funding of US$ 30 million or around IDR 418 billion from Sequoia Capital.

Apart from Sequoia, EV Growth, East Ventures, AC Ventures and 500 Startups are participating in this round. In this funding, Bibit used it to target more beginner investors.

Moreover, data from the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) and the Indonesian Central Securities Depository (KSEI) show that the number of mutual fund investors entering Indonesia will grow 78% on an annual basis (year on year/yoy) in 2020 to 3.2 million.

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, because 90% of the app users are dominated by millennial investors.

“Mutual fund investors have grown almost ten times in the last five years. Savings through mutual funds is the first step towards investing and Bibit has helped millions of consumers,” said VP, Sequoia India Rohit Agarwal.

Bibit is the most preferred mutual fund investment application in the country, based on DailySocial research. Bibit is part of the investment startup Stockbit, which was founded in 2013.

Stockbit launched Bibit, which is robo advisor based, in early 2019. The app allows investors to invest starting from IDR 10,000. The company has secured series A funding led by East Ventures in 2019.

Other investors participating are FreakOut, Convergence Ventures, and previous investors such as Ideosource, Braavos Ventures, and 500 Startups.

Indian Investors are Interested in Indonesian Startups

India is now facing the 2nd wave of the coronavirus pandemic. Economists and venture capitalists assess that this condition makes Indonesian startups increasingly attractive to investors.

Center of Innovation and Digital Economy researcher Indef Nailul Huda said the second wave of the corona pandemic would have an impact on the startup ecosystem in India.

Investors will study the government’s handling of the pandemic as a factor for investing. If the conditions of the coronavirus pandemic in India are not controlled, investors will divert funds to other countries, including Indonesia.

However, he said, Indonesia was not yet a destination for physical investment from global investors or technology companies, even though India was hit by the second wave of the pandemic.

This is because the quality of human resources (HR), infrastructure, and regulations are not ready. Mandiri Capital Indonesia CEO Eddi Danusaputro agrees that Indonesian startups have the opportunity to be glimpsed by investors during the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic in India.

Because, he considered that the government could regulate the Covid-19 case. The startup investor ecosystem between Indonesia and India is also intertwined. This is considered to increase the opportunity to shift investment interest to the archipelago.

The Indonesian Venture Capital Association (Amvesindo), for example, has collaborated several times with startup incubators from India such as the India Fund Fest.