Indonesia-based peer-to-peer lending (P2P) player Hijra (also known as ALAMI Group) has secured an investment round led by Indonesia-only venture capital firm Intudo Ventures, alongside existing backers including East Ventures (Growth fund), AC Ventures, Quona Capital, and Golden Gate Ventures, among others.
While the company did not disclose the financial terms of the transaction, sources say the round is likely to be up to $15 million.
The company declined to confirm the deal value.
ALAMI will use the proceeds to scale its product and operations, expedite expansion, and align the team with the company’s strategic growth plan.
“With this investment, we will continue to accelerate growth and broaden Hijra Bank’s user base, as well as product adoption by introducing new products such as Hijra Home Financing and other upcoming products designed to meet our customers’ everyday banking needs,” ALAMI CEO Dima Djani said in a statement.
DealStreetAsia reported earlier that ALAMI was in talks with several investors to raise new funding to support its digital banking business. ALAMI CEO Dima Djani said earlier that the firm has raised $80 million in total capital following the latest funding coming from Paragon Beneva Investama (Beneva), an arm of beauty company ParagonCorp, in December last year.
According to DATA VANTAGE, ALAMI has raised $30.96 million of funding with a valuation of $87.21 million. The firm raised $17.5 million of funding in 2021 and $7.56 million in 2022.
East Ventures, AC Ventures, and Golden Gate Ventures are among the top of ALAMI’s shareholders.
Top Shareholders of ALAMI
Rebranded in 2021 as Hijra, ALAMI is an ecosystem of ALAMI peer-to-peer lending, Hijra Bank, ARQAM Accelerator, and ALAMI Institute. ALAMI has disbursed financing worth 4.5 trillion rupiah from 2018 to the beginning of 2023. Hijra Bank has been contributing roughly 10-15% of monthly financing and has garnered over 100,000 users, the CEO said.
“Since we launched the Hijra Bank App in December 2022, its transaction volume has tripled, and its user base has doubled. In 2022, the bank achieved a remarkable 200% year-on-year increase in profit, with a 220% rise in third-party funds and nearly 200% growth in assets. Additionally, financing distribution expanded by 200% compared to 2021,” Djani explained.
New team
Alongside the round, ALAMI also announced the appointment of Ade Fauzan as COO for the group. Ade has spent over 20 years within Indonesia’s Islamic banking industry and was a Board Member and Head of Business Development of BTPN Syariah, as well as CEO of BTPN Syariah Ventura, the corporate venture capital of BTPN Syariah.
The company has inducted Dian Triansyah Djani as an advisor. Dian Djani has represented Indonesia as permanent ambassador to the United Nations, as well as served as G20 Co-Sherpa.
Additionally, Dan Bertoli and Vincent Yunnaraga have joined ALAMI as board members and head of finance, respectively. Dan and Vincent together have led and managed all deals of Quona’s most recent fund for Southeast Asia.
While fundraising itself is not a parameter for checking on how a company is doing, managing to raise some funds in this challenging market, comes as a positive, experts say.
Besides ALAMI, Investree just closed its Series D funding of $231 million, alongside the set-up of a joint venture firm with Qatar’s JTA International Holdings.
In September this year, Southeast Asian online lending platform Funding Societies, popularly known as Modalku in Indonesia, announced raising $27 million in debt funding from institutional investors led by Asia-focused private credit financier AlteriQ Global.
