Investment Startup Makmur Secures Early Stage Funding

Makmur’s online investment platform secures early-stage, seven-figure funding led by BEENEXT. A number of VCs and angel investors participated in this round, including Kinesys Group, Yiping Goh (Partner at Quest Ventures), Trihill Capital, Edward Tirtanata via Kenangan Kapital, Andrew Lee, and Vidit Agrawal (CEO GajiGesa).

This funding will be used to drive business growth by developing product features and portfolios. The company will also increase the number and develop the quality of its human resources.

“Currently, capital market investors in Indonesia are experiencing significant growth, but only represent 2% of the total population in Indonesia. We hope this initial funding can support our efforts to close the financial inclusion gap and encourage literacy in Indonesia,” said Sander in his official statement.

Edward Tirtanata through his angel investment fund in Kenangan Kapital said that Indonesia is currently experiencing an unprecedented surge in investment from the retail market.

With this growth, Makmur focuses on financial advisory and goal-based investing that can help assist novice investors. He considered this focus to provide different values ​​compared to wealthtech startups in Indonesia.

“Non-professional investors like me need financial advisors, and Makmur democratizes financial advisor services,” said Edward.

Offers Numerous Features to Users

Makmur allows investors to invest with a minimum value of IDR 10,000. Makmur offers a number of features to strengthen the added value of its products.

First, technology-based human advisors and Makmur Recipe to make it easier for novice investors to compare the right mutual funds. Users can also place mutual funds in different pockets according to their needs or investment goals (goal-based investing).

Currently, Makmur provides eight investment managers, namely BNI Asset Management, Trimegah Asset Management, Bahana TCW Investment Management, Capital Asset Management, Avrist Asset Management, RHB Asset Management, Syailendra Asset Management and FWD Asset Management.

The company is strengthened by a series of teamwork experience at leading technology and financial companies in Silicon Valley and Wall Street.

Sander previously had an internship as a Facebook Software Engineer in charge of the algorithm for sorting posts on the News Feed and a Software Engineer at Motorola Solutions.

He has also held various positions in the financial industry, from KCG Holdings to Head of Quantitative Trading at Virtu Financial, one of the largest stock trading companies on Wall Street.

Sander is based on a number of strategies in blending Makmur’s superior features so that users can experience investing like having a personal wealth manager.

For example, Makmur Recipe’s superior features were developed in several options, namely Makmur Recipe for emergency funds, retirement funds, and passive income.

In addition, there is also a tech-enabled human advisor feature that can design strategies according to the user’s investment goals. The recommended investment strategy will also follow the user’s risk profile.

Sander said this feature was designed by experts in their fields with the support of research and data-based investment technology. 

He assessed that human advisors understand the investment needs of users better than robo advisors that have been widely circulated on similar platforms.

Makmur Platform Development Plan

This year, Sander revealed that his party will increase the choice of mutual funds by adding investment manager partners who have a good reputation and track record. His party will also cooperate with several mutual fund sales outlet partners

“We always select investment manager partners strictly. For mutual fund products, we consider a number of factors, such as performance, top holding, managed funds, and management fees for similar mutual funds,” he said.

In terms of products, Makmur will add new features to make it easier for users to invest, such as payment methods. According to Sander, the GoPay and Direct Debit payment methods are in the process of being integrated and are targeted for release in the next two months.