Bloomberg - Ajaib, an Indonesian online stock trading platform, reached a valuation of $1 billion after raising $153 million in a financing round with DST Global, a venture capital firm that backed Robinhood Markets Inc.
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The Indonesia-based company founded by Stanford MBA classmates Yada Piyajomkwan, 27, and Anderson Sumarli, 27, took two and a half years to reach unicorn status, making it the youngest startup to hit the milestone in the country. Joining the Series B round were existing investors from Ribbit Capital, IVP and ICONIQ Capital - all of which also backed Robinhood - along with Insignia Ventures, Alpha JWC Ventures, SoftBank Ventures and Li Kashing s Horizons Ventures.
The rising value reflects retail investor enthusiasm in the world s fourth most populous country, triggered by PT Bukalapak.com's record-breaking initial public offering in August. Its success as the first debut set the stage for other tech IPOs. GoTo, the biggest tech startup valued at $18 billion, is expected to follow very soon after.
The Bukalapak IPO showed tremendous interest from millennials and Gen Z, Sumarli, Ajaib's Chief Executive Officer, said in an interview. Our vision is to bring a modern generation of investors to Modern Financial Services so that they can benefit from capital markets and the growth of the nation. Ajaib - which means magical - - caught on during the Pandemic as young, smartphone-savvy people turned to online trading for the first time. About 59% of retail investors who trade on the local stock exchange's C-best electronics platform are below the age of 30 in Indonesia. Just 2.7 million people, or 1% of the population trade stocks in the country.
The startup plans to use the funds to recruit 100 engineers as well as product and data staff over the next six months, with sales of 200 increasing to its workforce, the CEO said. It also plans to improve its app and offer credit facilities for margin trading for some investors. Ajaib allows investors to buy and sell stocks and mutual funds.
The success of Ajaib represents the growth and strength of Indonesia's technology and capital markets, said Chandra Tjan, general partner at Alpha JWC Ventures, in a statement.
Sumarli and Piyajomkwan started Ajaib as a startup: a Robinhood-like platform targeting first time millennial investors in Indonesia. In 2020, Winston Lays joined the company as co-founder and chief technology officer. A graduate of the Y Combinator, Ajaib raised 2 million in early funding from SoftBank, Insignia Ventures and Alpha JWC in 2019. It announced a total of $243 million in 2021 including the funding round announced Monday.
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