Gotrade Secures 222 Billion Rupiah Series A Funding, Boosting Local Penetration in Southeast Asia

The investment app developer Gotrade announced funding of $15.5 million or more than 222 billion Rupiah. The series A round was led by Velocity Capital Fintech Ventures. To date, the company has raised a total fund of $22.5 million or equivalent to 322 billion Rupiah.

This round was attended by investors from various countries, such as Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group [Japan], BeeNext [Singapore], Kibo Ventures [Spain], Picus Capital [Germany], as well as previous investors including LocalGlobe [UK], Social Leverage [US] & Raptors [USA].

The last $7 million round led by LocalGlobe took place in 2021. The funds were received after the application launched and can be used by invitation only, generating 20% ​​weekly growth.

In its first year, the company claims to have grown organically and managed to gathered more than 500,000 users from 140 countries with total transactions reaching $400 million through 5 million trades.

Founded in 2019 by Rohit Mulani, Norman Wanto, and David Grant in Singapore, Gotrade offers the convenience of trading stocks from the United States stock exchange. This app allows users to buy shares on the NYSE and current shares on the NASDAQ starting at $1.

In its operation, the company does not charge a commission on their trades. However, the company admitted that it didn't adopt collaborative practices by monetizing order flow payments. Gotrade earns income by charging 0.50% to 1.20% in FX fees (depend on currency) when users select local currency deposits which are then converted to US dollars to get started.

Apart from that, Gotrade also has a new subscription-based initiative called Gotrade Black with premium features such as candlestick charts, analyst ratings, target prices and risk measurement for $2 per month. On its official website, it is explained that this recommendation was made by professional stock analysts from Goldman, JP Morgan, and many other world-class investment firms/institutions.

Also, part of the capital raised will be used to develop the 40-person team and launch versions of the product in various markets, starting with Southeast Asia.

The Co-founder and CEO, Rohit Mulani revealed that investing in Southeast Asia is still broken. There are more than 600 million people unable to access quality investment products at reasonable prices. He said, most of them are still subject to funds with expense ratios exceeding 5%, savings products such as gold with a 3% spread and many hidden costs across their portfolios.

"We believe we should invest more fairly, and users don't have to resort to predatory fees," he said.

Gotrade Indonesia

Recenly before this funding was announced, the company had just launched a special product for the Indonesian people under the name Gotrade Indonesia in collaboration with Valbury Asia Futures (Valbury) as a local partner. All trades carried out on Gotrade Indonesia are carried out under a contract between the user and Valbury. Furthermore, Gotrade products that target the global market will be referred to as Gotrade Global.

Along with the launch of Gotrade Indonesia, the company also announced Andrew Haryono, the Valbury Group's owner, as a co-founder of the company. Valbury Group is a financial conglomerate in Indonesia that has securities, derivatives and capital management products.

“Andrew has been involved since the start of the business in 2019 and has been quite essentioal in helping us achieve our success so far. With Valbury and the launch of Gotrade Indonesia, we were able to take our partnership to a new level and everyone felt it was time to recognize him for the important role he has played in the company's past and the role he will continue to play in the company's future," Rohit said.

Apart from Gotrade, several investment applications in Indonesia that have also raised funds over the past year include Pluang, Pintu, Bibit and Ajaib.

–Original article is in Indonesian, translated by Kristin Siagian