Xendit's Latest Funding of 2.1 Trillion Rupiah Confirms Its Unicorn Status

Xendit announced the series C funding of $150 million or equivalent to 2.1 trillion Rupiah. This round also settled the company's valuation above $1 billion and made Xendit the next "unicorn" startup in Indonesia.

The investment was led by Tiger Global Management with the participation of a series of investors, including Accel, Amasia, and Goat Capital. With this fresh funding, Xendit plans to innovate on its product range, aiming expansion to selected countries in Southeast Asia.

The Xendit fintech platform has started to be available in the Philippines. To solidify its debut, the company recently invested in local payments startup, Dragonpay.

"We are seeing a major shifting to digital that almost all businesses, from small shop owners on Instagram, to the largest companies in Indonesia [..] Xendit's digital payments infrastructure allows businesses to receive payments faster," Xendit's Founder & CEO, Moses Lo said.

Previously, Xendit closed its $64.6 million Series B funding round in March 2021 and was led by Accel. With this latest funding, they have raised IDR 3.4 trillion ($238 million) in total since the first round in 2015.

"Xendit recorded a total payout volume increase of more than 200% yoy in Indonesia and the Philippines, continuing our growing track record by more than 10% month-on-month, since our debut. Our new unicorn status will help strengthen the core mission as our guide," Xendit's Co-Founder & COO, Tessa Wijaya added.

Beyond fintech

Xendit's core solution is a payment gateway, enabling businesses to have a digital payment infrastructure, either integrated into the backend system (for example in e-commerce or other services such as online travel) or used directly through the provided application (for example for social commerce).

Realizing the huge potential of MSMEs in Indonesia, Xendit is also developing SaaS products to help micro-small businesses digitize business processes, beyond pure fintech products. Most recently, they provide a product inventory service to make it easier for business owners to synchronize between online platforms for sales.

Additional capital will also be channeled to increase Xendit's penetration into the MSME segment. Various specific features and services will be rolled out, in addition to strengthening the capabilities of existing products such as capital loans, chargeback insurance, to fraud prevention.

"Xendit's digital payment infrastructure which designed specifically for Southeast Asia is now the new standard for the financial industry in the region. By providing a reliable and secure payment gateway, Xendit has paved the way to a digital economy for businesses," Tiger Global Management's Partner, Alex Cook said.

On the other hand, Xedit also has a special product Instamoney, as an API service to help businesses provide remittance features. Several platforms have used this system, such as Wise and MoneyGram.

Indonesia's unicorn

Looking at the startup ecosystem in Indonesia today, it seems that in the future we will continue to welcome a new generation of unicorns. One of the reason is that there are dozens of startups with centaur valuations – while global and local investors are also increasingly eager to inject their funds.

Based on our data, there are currently a total of 10 startups have been confirmed as unicorns. Several players have the potential to follow in the near future with valuations above $500 million, including SiCepat, Kopi Kenangan, Ruangguru, and Akulaku.

*assuming the merger process to go public via SPAC has been completed

–Original article is in Indonesian, translated by Kristin Siagian