Julo, an Indonesian peer-to-peer (P2P) lending fintech start-up, has raised US$5 million in a Series A funding round.

The round was led by Skystar Capital and East Ventures with participation from Gobi Partners, Convergence Ventures, Provident Capital, Central Capital Ventura, Heyokha Brothers, and other investors.

“We have ambitious goals this year, including new product lines, nationwide expansion and continued focus on our underlying technologies and analytics,” Adrianus Hitijahubessy, one of Julo’s founders, said in a statement received on Friday.

“The funds are key to enabling us to achieve those goals and further our mission of bringing financial inclusion to the Indonesian masses.”

Julo plans to use the proceeds of this round to grow its team and accelerate the growth of its loan portfolio to address the needs of many Indonesians who have no access to conventional credit facilities.

Founded in late 2016, Julo connects institutional lenders to the under-banked and unbanked. Julopromotes financial inclusion by providing unsecured cash loans of up to Rp 10 million with a payback period of up to six months via a mobile app.

Julo now processes more than 10,000 monthly applications with double-digit monthly disbursement growth rates since its inception.

Abraham Hidayat of Skystar Capital said Julo was supported by a strong team to help it grow to the next level. “We believe Julo has one of the strongest technical teams in the industry, and – being Indonesians – they will be able to adapt and form partnerships faster than non-local startups,” Abraham added.

Source: The Jakarta Post