Ayoconnect has raised $5 million in pre-Series B funding to bring frictionless payments to Indonesia's fragmented and predominantly offline bill payment landscape
Ayoconnect, which has raised over $10 million to date, connects billers with banks and other partners so that end-consumers can pay their bills more seamlessly within its network.
The firm offers a 'One API' solution which enables bill providers to expand their payment points with minimum effort, while channel partners have immediate access to 2,500 bill products.
As of July 2020, Ayoconnect says it has processed more than 40 million payments through its 600 bill providers and 40 channel partners. The firm has enlisted a lineup of prominent partners including Dana, LinkAja, PT POS Indonesia, Bank BRI, Bank Permata, Bukalapak, Lazada and Pegadaian, and has seen a 400% growth in transaction volumes within six months from January to June 2020.
Pre-Series B investors include BRI Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of Bank BRI; Tokyo Exchange (TYO) listed internet company Kakaku.com, and Brama One Ventures. Existing investors including global fintech specialist Finch Capital and Amand Ventures also participated in the round.
Revealing more around the company’s future plans, co-founder & COO Chiragh Kirpalani says: “Online bill payment is a clear winner from Covid-19 as consumer preferences have accelerated digitalization. Ayoconnect will remain focussed on bill payment while aiming to build more value-added solutions together with our partners. One such solution includes a Billing Reminder that helps our partners like Bank Mandiri Card Division and other financial institutions execute auto-debit for bill payment.”