Indonesian Islamic P2P lender Alami receives Series A funding, aims to triple financing for SMEs
JAKARTA - Indonesian SME-focused P2P lender Alami Sharia has won a Series A funding of around $1 million led by Golden Gate Ventures that it hopes can triple its financing for small and medium-sized companies.
The Shariah-compliant company said the funding will be channelled into enhancing its peer-to-peer financing platform, re-focusing its aggregator business and rolling out new products.
It is now aiming to disburse 240 billion rupiah ($17.06 million) in financing for SMEs next year from around 80 billion rupiah this year.
"We have shown them a solid business plan and alhamdulillah we have gained these investors’ confidence,” Alami CEO Dima Djani told Salaam Gateway.
The other funders are Agaeti Ventures, RHL Ventures, and one angel investor.
Dima says Alami is the first Indonesian Shariah-compliant fintech company to attract venture investors.
“I hope there will be more funding series from investors for Indonesia’s Shariah fintech,” he said.
Alami registered with the Financial Services Authority (OJK) in April and since then it has disbursed more than 55 billion rupiah from more than 1,000 lenders to more than 40 small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs).
It says it has zero non-performing loans.
Alami currently only has one product, invoice financing, that serves as working capital loans for SMEs.
Dima said the company is developing two new products.
Alami adheres to national fatwa body’s DSN-MUI approved Shariah contracts.
It conducts credit and physical on-the-ground checks of all borrowers, and partners with Bank Permata Syariah for escrow facilities.
The platform earns 1% in fees from each successful loan.
"We have channelled an average 15 billion rupiah in lending per month, disbursing around 200 million to 30 billion rupiah for each transaction," said Dima.
($1 = 14,069 Indonesian rupiah)
(Reporting by Yosi Winosa; Editing by Emmy Abdul Alim emmy.abdulalim@salaamgateway.com)
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