Moduit Steps to Overcome Disparities in Investing in Indonesia

The enthusiasm of the people to invest is even greater. The Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) noted, the number of capital market investors in Indonesia grew by 53 percent in 2019. From previously only 1.62 million investors in 2018 to 2.47 million at the end of last year.

The increase in the number of investors is in line with the improving level of Indonesia’s financial literacy. The third National Financial Literacy Survey (SNLIK) conducted by the Financial Services Authority (OJK) in 2019 showed that Indonesia’s financial literacy index reached 38.03 percent (in 2016 only 29.7 percent), and the financial inclusion index 76.19 percent (up from 2016 which was only 67.8 percent).

The increased financial literacy raises a variety of other needs. Such as financial advisory services as well as investment products. One fintech targeting this segment is Moduit. This startup offers financial solutions from upstream to downstream for community investment needs.

Moduit was founded by Jeffry Lomanto and Charles Jap in 2018. Jeffrey, who has 15 years of experience in finance, sees an imbalance between the ratio of capital market investors and financial advisors as well as certified marketers in Indonesia.

He said, from 2.47 million investors at the end of 2019, the number of mutual fund marketers or commonly referred to as WAPERD was only 27,586 people as of May 2019. The presence of the Moduit platform sought to solve the problem.

Users Can Invest Independently or Use Financial Advisors

By carrying out the business to business to consumer (B2B2C) model, Moduit seeks to facilitate financial advisors. At the same time, OJK is certified WAPERD in marketing a more diverse range of mutual fund products.

But Moduit users can also choose to trade independently without using the financial advisory services provided. Therefore, they divide the application into two parts.

The two applications, the Moduit application, are for users or customers who can directly buy mutual fund products and the Moduit Advisor, are for financial advisers who work with Moduit.

“We want to provide end-to-end solutions for users in terms of wealth management. The mission is we want to be a gateway to wealth for them, “said Jeffry as the Founder and CEO of Moduit.

Moduit holds a license as a mutual fund sales agent and financial advisor from OJK. Their platform is also registered with the Ministry of Communication and Information.

There are three things done by Moduit so far, namely educating the public about investments and financial products, helping users make financial planning and investments, and executing user investment transactions.

Stefanus Adi Utomo once the Moduit Chief Marketing Officer stated, they allocated thirty to forty percent of the company’s funds for marketing costs and user acquisition. In addition to conducting digital campaigns, they also actively held roadshows to campuses and received invitations to seminars and investment-related discussions.

This Startup is Eyeing Series A Funding

The Moduit monetization process has so far been obtained in a number of ways, ranging from revenue sharing transactions with financial advisors, as well as management-fee fees from the Investment Manager (MI). They have worked with dozens of financial advisers and 15 MIs.

To improve its performance, Moduit is currently raising Series A funding with a funding requirement of around US $ 3 million (around Rp40 billion). Since it first started operating, the company is still bootstrapping by relying on internal funds and some angel investor funds.

Jeffry said that his party was not only looking for sources of funds, but also investors who could work in synergy with their business. One of the startups that are included in the 2019 GK Plug and Play accelerator, is open to both domestic and international investors.