Akulaku secured $10 M in debt financing from Lend East to expand its lending portfolio

Lend East, a digital lending platform that connects global institutional capital with alternative lenders in Southeast Asia and India, has announced US $10 million in post-Series D debt fundraising for Indonesia-based fintech firm Akulaku.

This financing comes after the business announced a $100 million Series D funding round in January 2019.

Akulaku said in a news release that the money would be used to expand and improve its loan portfolio in its core operational areas of Indonesia, the Philippines, and Thailand.

“We are pleased to once again partner with Lend East to continue to enhance our lending portfolio. Akulaku has continued to see significant growth in the past year, and this additional funding will allow us to continue meeting the needs of the underbanked throughout Southeast Asia,” said Akulaku CEO William Li.

Founded in 2014 as one of Indonesia’s first consumer lending fintech firms, the company seeks to provide digital banking, consumer credit, digital investing, and insurance brokerage services to underbanked customers in the countries it serves.

Akulaku runs a buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) and consumer finance business in its home nation of Indonesia. In 2021, it claimed to have disbursed over $2.2 billion in credit to over 10 million people.

The company’s overall income is estimated to have increased by 120 percent to $597 million thanks to its wealth management, e-commerce, and digital banking platforms.

The COVID-19 pandemic, which resulted in changes in customer behaviour in numerous marketplaces, created an opportunity for Akulaku. According to a Bain survey, eight out of ten Southeast Asian customers have used digital financial services to make online transactions.

Despite the expanding technologically aware middle class, the firm claims that half of the region’s population is unbanked and has no access to financial goods. A fifth of the population (18%) is underbanked, meaning they don’t have access to anything other than a bank account.

Akulaku was Lend East’s first investment in the region, which it made in 2019.