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Source: Ayoconnect
Ayoconnect, Southeast Asia’s largest open finance platform, has closed a US$13 million B extension financing round led by SIG Venture Capital with participation from CE Innovation Capital and existing investor fintech PayU, the payments and Fintech business of Prosus, increasing its stake.
A follow-on round to its oversubscribed Series B fundraise led by Tiger Global and closed in January 2022, the new funding will enable Ayoconnect to continue building out an exceptional leadership team, and to invest in product and technology development. The round will also facilitate the execution of Ayoconnect’s roadmap through both organic and external growth, which includes new solutions around payments, data and banking, and with new APIs planned for account opening and card issuing.
Ayoconnect’s vision is to drive financial inclusion for Indonesian consumers and SMEs working in conjunction with regulators and incumbent banks to facilitate this. As part of that strategy, Ayoconnect has recently been awarded a Bank of Indonesia (BI) Payment Service Provider (PSP) Category 1 license. The company is the only open finance player in the country to benefit from the credibility and reassurance of the central bank’s licensed regulation.
With companies increasingly focusing attention on cost control, Ayoconnect enables its business customers to launch new financial services faster and cheaper with its core infrastructure that is secure and regulated. The use of Ayoconnect’s APIs means companies can bypass the long and expensive process of building their own technology infrastructure from scratch, and without needing a BI license themselves.
Ayoconnect has also just launched automated recurring direct debit with seven of Indonesia’s biggest banks (Mandiri, BRI, BNI, CIMB Niaga, Danamon, Bank Syariah Indonesia and Bank Neo Commerce). The direct debit API, which can be integrated with minimum effort, is the first to provide Indonesian businesses with recurring capabilities that can instantly debit from customers’ saving accounts across multiple banks.
At a time when fintech funding is tightening, the latest round brings total investment in the company to date to US$ 43 million, an uplift on Ayoconnect’s valuation since the beginning of 2022, and extending the company’s runway.
Jakob Rost, CEO and co-founder at Ayoconnect, said: “We are delighted that previous and new investors have joined this B Extension round. That level of trust is a result of Ayoconnect’s rapidly growing traction in the Indonesian market, where we have successfully closed high profile partnerships, launched important new products, and increased even further the range of banks we work with. The new funding will help us
to accelerate delivery of our vision by shipping new solutions to our banking and API clients. The next 12 months will be about executing even faster and investing smartly in new solution rollouts.”
Commenting on the investment, Akshay Bajaj, SIG Venture Capital said: “The Ayoconnect team has a unique combination of experience, strategic relationships and the requisite regulatory credentials to successfully capitalize on the open finance opportunity in Southeast Asia. They have been running high volume APIs for years and are incredibly well positioned to help customers launch compelling and profitable use cases quickly and securely. As a result of its expanding capabilities, Ayoconnect continues to experience strong and growing demand from banks and API clients. We love their vision and believe they have the potential to transform and enhance the future of payments in Southeast Asia.”
Vijay Agicha, Global Head of Strategy and Growth at PayU added: “Ayoconnect’s extensive array of APIs has enabled them to establish a remarkable client base comprising Indonesia’s leading financial institutions and tech companies. We are impressed with what the team has achieved so far and are excited to build on our initial investment which further reinforces PayU’s commitment to Southeast Asia’s fintech growth story. We look forward to supporting Ayoconnect on the next stage of their ambitious growth journey.”
Founded in 2016, Ayoconnect employs just under 250 people. By delivering on its roadmap, the company aims to cement its position as the region’s leading fintech and the trusted go-to partner in the space for banks, financial institutions and tech companies.
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