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  • Indonesian P2P Fintech Startup Modalku Becomes Fully Registered With the OJK

    Indonesian P2P Fintech Startup Modalku Becomes Fully Registered With the OJK

    Modalku, an Indonesia-based peer-to-peer lending fintech startup, announced this week it is now fully registered with the Otoritas Jasa Keuangan (OJK). Founded in 2016, Modalku describes itself as an online marketplace for small businesses to acquire loans and for lenders to fund small business loans to earn returns. The company revealed:

    “Our technology-based approach enables borrowers to receive loans for the first time or at lower than market rates, while lenders will earn returns well above that of bank deposits, traditional fixed income products, and life insurance investment-linked products. This marketplace lending model is proven in countries such as USA, UK, China & Singapore.”

    Modalku also noted that SMEs are a key source of employment and economic growth in Indonesia, but seem to be structurally disabled by financial institutions to get the financing they need. According to Digital News Asia, Modalku has already disbursed loans totaling more than Rp175 billion (US$13.15 million) to 320 MSME loans. While discussing the OJK registration milestone, Modalku co-founder and CEO Reynold Wijaya revealed:

    “The fact that OJK focused on P2P lending regulations in Indonesia shows that the government sees the enormous potential of fintech in supporting financial inclusion. MSMEs have always been the backbone of the Indonesian economy, contributing 60.3% of national GDP and 97% of national employment. With solid regulation, underbanked MSMEs will have better access to financing and find it easier to grow their businesses.”

    OJK senior executive researcher Hendrikus Passagi added:

    “OJK supports and will continue to encourage borrowing and lending activities via P2P lending fintechs as an alternative to national financing products that require no collateral. We view the digital financial ecosystem built by P2P lending fintech platforms as ideal partners to support financial inclusion in Indonesia. With official registration at OJK, Indonesian P2P lending platforms are expected to increase borrowing and lending activities at a much larger scale for local MSMEs while still putting customer protection and stability of the Indonesian financial system first.”

    Modalku currently operates in Indonesia, Singapore, and Malaysia.

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  • Logistics startup CarPal raises additional funding

    Logistics startup CarPal raises additional funding

    CarPal has raised an additional S$3.83 million (US$2.7 million) to further develop the SaaS solution CarPal Fleet and help businesses build and control their own fleet of drivers. The round is led by new private equity participants, and the existing investor, RB Investments, has re-invested as well. This round follows the pre-series A of SG$1 million raised back in January 2016.

    Launched in July 2014, CarPal is one of the pioneering on-demand logistics service based on sharing economy, headquartered in Singapore. Over the past 2.5 years, it has steadily grown into a popular and reliable last-mile delivery service for consumers and businesses alike, delivering anything from fresh food, flowers, clothing, household appliances to furniture items.

    The company has recently announced the official launch of its new SaaS delivery management solution: CarPal Fleet.

    “Over the past few years, we learned that many of our customers wish to build their own fleet of drivers. This is mainly due to specific requirements or SOP. Hence launching a product to give customers full control over the delivery operations made a lot of sense,” says Maarten Hemmes, founder and CEO of CarPal.

    By allowing businesses to optimise the routing of delivery orders and match the best available driver, CarPal Fleet can bring delivery costs down and help businesses to compete with industry giants such as Amazon, Lazada and Zalora. The logistics startup wants to give businesses more control over their delivery fleet and help them find a healthy mix between in-house and third-party drivers, without actually having to purchase any vehicles or hire additional staff.

    Today, the company has hundreds of customers all over South East Asia. including (full-service) logistics providers, parcel delivery services, food delivery services and others. Businesses use and pay for CarPal Fleet via volume-based pricing.

    The company is competing with others in the space like Bringg and Onfleet. The main aspect that sets CarPal apart from the others is the fact that the business actually recruits drivers in every market for customers to add to their fleet, taking away the initial recruitment efforts.

    The company now consists 15 people and is headquartered in Singapore. It plans to expand into new markets and new segments with this round of additional funding, which includes growing its R&D and sales team.

    To date, CarPal has raised S$4.83 million.