Payfazz secures US$53M to help unbanked Indonesians to carry out financial transactions
Payfazz, an agency-based financial services platform for the underbanked in Indonesia, has raised US$53 million in Series B funding round, led by B Capital and Insignia Ventures Partners.
Tiger Global, Y Combinator and ACE & Company, also joined the round.
The fintech startup will use the money to strengthen its services and explore new possibilities across Southeast Asia.
As of today, the company has raised more than US$74 million.
Started in 2016, Payfazz offers a solution to people, especially those who do not have a bank account, to carry out financial transactions and digital payments easily and quickly.
Payfazz does so by making use of a network of financial agents, who work as middlemen between the bank and customers. These agents are located across multiple small stores and receive cash from users who wish to deposit their money.
Customers can purchase credit and electricity tokens and make payments for utilities, social security, and multifinance bills.
A large percentage of Indonesians still do not use digital banking services and this process will make it easy for people to engage in various financial transactions and understand the process better.
The landscape of the urban areas is also such that local shops that sell food and other necessities are easier to access than banks and ATMs.
Apart from that, the platform also helps agents earn an extra income by giving them the freedom to set margins for transactions which usually range from five to nine per cent.
The app was originally built to help people buy pre-paid phone credit and pay for electricity bills. However, it has now extended its services to offering loans and payments for offline retailers.