The recently released Pulse of Fintech by KPMG reveals that total investment in the fintech space hits $98 billion exceeding the $87bn raised in H2 2020. What this suggests is that investors are bullish on fintechs. Asia is not left behind in the traction this sector is getting.
According to the Pulse of Fintech H1 report, "After the region witnessed investment fall to $4.7 billion across 357 deals in H2'20, H1'21 saw $7.5 billion in investment across 467 deals. A possible explanation for the solid rebound in investments can be attributed to the projected size of Asia's digital economy in 2025. This figure stands at $300 billion."
Speaking of investments in Asia, Xendit, a six-year-old startup that provides payment services for businesses in Indonesia and the Philippines, has become a unicorn after raising $150 million in a funding round led by Tiger Global Management. The latest round implies that the startup has raised $238 million since its 2015 inception.
Existing backers Accel Partners, Amasia, and Twitch founder Justin Kan's Goat Capital were part of the financing round. Xendit plans to use the fund to scale its range of services and expand into Malaysia and Vietnam.
Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer Tessa Wijaya expect its expansion to grow the business at 200% annually. In an interview with Bloomberg, she said that Xendit expects its expansion to help grow the business at 200% annually, as Southeast Asia's digital economy triples to $300 billion by 2025.
"Digital economy is a huge opportunity. We want to be the player to go to. For us, it is about providing anything and everything that a merchant needs to come online," she added.
Xendit relies on "our ability to understand local ways of doing things," Wijaya said. "We understand the payment behaviors in different markets, and we can translate that to regional and global players who want to come into the market."
Xendit, like most fintech startups, is making a loss, but Wijaya is optimistic that this will change in few years.
Indonesia in focus
GDP: $1.058 trillion in 2020 compared to $1.119 trillion in 2019
Population: 273,523,621 in 2020 compared to 270,625,567 in 2019
GDP per capita: $10,925 in 2020 compared to $11,417 IN 2019
