Pluang, a fintech startup providing digital micro-savings for Indonesians, has secured $3 million in a Series A funding round, led by Go-Ventures, the venture capital arm of ride-hailing giant Gojek.
The investment has come after the company rebranded itself from EmasDigi to Pluang, a digital platform enabling users to invest in, buy and sell gold.
With this fresh capital, Pluang plans to go beyond the ambit of gold and launch US dollar savings and fixed return products, among others.
By providing solutions for savings, Pluang looks to tackle a financial inclusion problem that has been much overlooked by local fintech startups, who have mostly opted to focus on digitalizing the payment and lending subsectors.
Indonesia has yet to see many startup players in the gold saving space, with BukaEmas, a gold investment feature launched by e-commerce unicorn Bukalapak, one of the few notable tech companies looking to tap into the space. Amand Ventures-backed jewellery e-tailer Orori is another startup operating in the space.
At present, Pluang’s gold product allows investments starting from 0.01 grams (equivalent to roughly $0.50). The company says it provides users real-time liquidity and peace of mind as the gold is kept in a government-backed institution through the official Indonesian commodities exchange.
The fintech company, which had previously bagged funding from Celebes Capital dan PT Catur Kusuma Abadi Sejahtera, said the new funding will help it to achieve its ultimate mission of democratising financial products for Indonesians.
“In terms of investment solutions, Indonesians are underserved, and there is a lack of access to financial products that have people’s interest at heart. We want to help Indonesian consumers see that better possibilities exist for growing their savings,” said Claudia Kolonas, founder at Pluang.
The deal marks Pluang the second investment by Go-Ventures in Indonesia amongst those announced. The venture capitalist earlier invested in healthtech platform Halodoc that was made public earlier this year.
DealStreetAsia had previously reported that Go-Ventures has also backed local startups including digital TV startup Narasi TV and media startup Kumparan. However, the deals have not been confirmed by Go-Ventures.
Outside Indonesia, Go-Ventures has co-led a $35.5 million in a Series A round for Bengaluru-based mobile eSports gaming platform Mobile Premier League (MPL).
DealStreetAsia had in May 2018 reported about GOJEK’s secretive foray into the venture capital space, which was confirmed by the unicorn’s founder and CEO Nadiem Makarim in an interview in August last year.
