According to a 2021 report by Catherine Shu on TechCrunch, Bibit received a $65M investment from a round led by Sequoia Capital India.
Main Takes
- Bibit raised $65 million (Bibit 65m Indiashutechcrunch) in an investment round led by Sequoia Capital India and participated by Tencent, AC Ventures, Harvard Management Company, East Ventures, and Prosus Ventures
- The funds will be used for hiring, enhancing financial education services, and launching new products
- Bibit has received total investments of $110 million to date
- Launched in 2019, the app is user-friendly and favored by first-time investors and millennials
- The Indonesian government is promoting financial education to attract more investment in the stock market through campaigns like “Let’s Invest in Stocks”
- The number of retail investors in Indonesia is still low but has been increasing by more than 25% each year due to the campaign
- Rohit Agarwal, VP of Sequoia Capital India, considers Bibit a responsible way to start an investing journey and is excited to double down on the partnership
In the investment round led by Sequoia Capital India, there were other angel investors that invested in the Indonesian app including Tencent, AC Ventures, Harvard Management Company, East Ventures, and Prosus Ventures. According to Bibit, the $65 million investment will be used for hiring, enhancing the company’s financial education services, and launching new products to increase business.
Prior to this, Bibit received a $30 million investment in a growth round (also led by Sequoia Capital India) in which more than 500 startups participated. Before that, Bibit bagged $15 million in a Series A round back in May 2019. All these investments (including the Bibit $65m India by Shu on TechCrunch) total $110 million dollars, which is a huge success for an Indonesian local robo-advisor app.
Bibit – A Stock Investing Platform
Launched in 2019, Bibit is a stock investing and financial education platform that teaches everyone the concepts of the financial markets. Launched by Stockbit, Bibit has now joined the likes of other successful investing platforms in Indonesia including Ajaib, Bareksa, FUNDastic, and Pluang and raised Bibit 65m Indiashutechcrunch.
However, Bibit is unique in its own way. For instance, the app is user-friendly and favors new investors. According to Bibit, around 90% of its users are first-time investors and millennials that benefit from services such as mutual funds and risk-based investments.
Bibit thinks that the recent growth in the number of mutual funds and retail investors has proved to be profitable for the company. According to Bibit, mutual funds saw a steep incline of 78% ($3.2m) growth. As per the number of retail investors, the data shows a similar picture, registering a 56% year-over-year growth in 2020, according to Otaritas Jasa Keuangan, a Financial Services Authority from Indonesia.
Simpler and convenient apps such as Bibit want to make investing as easy as possible. Unlike brokers that charge too many fees and aren’t available 24/7 for your service, investment apps like Bibit are the solution as they offer minimal investment fees and options to invest even lower amounts. The latest investments that we’ve mentioned in this article (Bibit 65m IndiaShuTechcCrunch) have helped Bibit in reaching such goals.
But, There’s a Problem
According to statistics shared by The Jakarta Post, the number of retail investors in Indonesia is still not enough. In order to attract more investments in the Indonesian stock market, the Indonesian government is promoting financial education and making it easier for new investors to get involved.
The “Let’s Invest in Stocks” campaign, run by the Indonesia Stock Exchange, is designed to teach people about the advantages of investing in stocks and how to get started with just IDR 100,000 ($7.18).
The campaign has been successful in increasing the number of investors by more than 25% each year, but more still needs to be done to raise financial literacy and simplify the process for investors, as the number of individual investors in Indonesia is still low. (Bibit $65m IndiaShuTechCrunch)
Rohit Agarwal VP of Sequoia Capital India, on Stockbit/Bibit and Indonesian Stock Market
“Indonesian mutual fund customers have grown almost 10x in the past five years. Savings via mutual funds is the first step towards investing and Bibit has helped millions of consumers start their investing journey in a responsible manner.
Sequoia Capital India is excited to double down on the partnership as the company brings the same customer focus to stock investing with Stockbit.”
