Carro’s Indonesia bank play could spell big returns

PEER-to-peer lending platform Funding Societies’ co-investment into Indonesian Bank Index on April 26 is just one of a long list of startups buying a piece of the many Indonesian banks, including Hong Kong digital lender WeLab.

But what was interesting was their co-investor, used car marketplace Carro. This was Carro’s second investment in an Indonesian bank, coming on the heels of an earlier co-investment into Allo Bank with Salim Group, CT Corp, e-commerce platform Bukalapak and Grab in March 2022.

Carro’s moves in the banking arena come as no surprise. The company was part of the Razer Youth Bank consortium comprising Razer, Insignia Ventures, Sheng Siong and FWD, that was vying for a Singapore digital bank licence. The consortium failed to get a licence, but Carro’s financial services ambitions continued to grow.