Fintech Investree Receives IDR 142 Billion Funding from Swiss Investors

Investree received funding of US$ 10 million or around IDR 142 billion from an impact company from Switzerland, responsAbility Investments. Fintech lending startup responsibility Investments is an asset manager from Switzerland that focuses exclusively on sustainable investment.

Responsibility Investments is an investor partner of one of the Investree institutional lenders from the United States (US), Accial Capital. Investree collaborated with Accial Capital in November last year.

“In their third funding round, Accial Capital invites one of the co-investors, namely responsAbility to participate in funding through our platform,” said Investree Co-Founder and CEO Adrian Gunadi in a press statement, Thursday (28/10).

He said the fresh funds would be used to finance the financing needs proposed by the borrower (borrower). In particular, “those that have significant economic, social and environmental impacts on life, especially in the midst of the recovery period due to the pandemic,” said Adrian.

Focus on Empowering Women MSMEs

One of the company’s focuses is to empower women MSMEs in the Gramindo ecosystem. These traders have group characteristics, consisting of women without access to banks (unbankable) and running businesses using conventional and sharia schemes.

There are now 5,700 female borrowers from the Gramindo ecosystem on the Investree platform. The International Finance Corporation estimates that the Asian Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector has a financing gap of around US$ 2 trillion.

This figure is likely higher now because of the coronavirus pandemic. The Covid-19 pandemic has also created greater hurdles in eliminating poverty and creating jobs.

Digital platforms are considered to be able to overcome the financing gap and help MSMEs develop. It’s also what underlies responsAbility to provide funding to the company through a partnership with Accial Capital.

“We are very pleased to be able to partner in this innovative structure, providing the working capital funding that is urgently needed by SME borrowers in Indonesia,” said Deputy Head of Financial Inclusion Debt ResponAbility Jaskirat S Chadha.

For responsAbility, channeling funding to Investree means directly contributing to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Mainly, related to limited financial access for SMEs which limits job creation, triggers inequality, and hinders economic development.

Jared Miller, Co-Founder and CEO of Accial Capital, said that Investree has consistently increased credit facilities since working together in 2017.

“We’re happy to work with responsAbility to take relationships to the next level and support small and micro business in Indonesia to overcome the challenges in the pandemic,” he said.

Investree Enters Its 6th Year

At the age of 6, the company has grown far beyond just a fintech lending company. During 2021 alone, the company has empowered 5 thousand ultra micro women entrepreneurs who need financial support to develop their simple businesses.

They are also partnering with Andalin, a digital freight forwarder to offer access to customs and tax financing for Andalin clients through Buyer Financing products.

This collaboration aims to help ease the client’s cost burden so that they do not have to incur large initial costs, so that the company’s cash flow management can be optimized.

As of September 2021, Investree booked a total loan facility of IDR 12 trillion, up 51% yoy from last year, and the value of disbursed loans was IDR 8 trillion.

In terms of the number of lenders and borrowers, at the end of the third quarter of 2021, there were 46 thousand lenders and 6 thousand borrowers who joined Investree cumulatively. The ratio of the number of individual lenders and institutional lenders that fund is 40:60.

The company’s contribution to the fintech lending industry in Indonesia is real. Investree’s outstanding loans contributed 8.3% to the national productive outstanding loans. As of September 2021, their TKB90 is 98.22% – better than the national average of 93.3%