Indonesian investment platform Pluang closes US$55m round

PLUANG, an Indonesian startup offering micro-investment and micro-savings products, has closed a US$55 million funding round led by Australia-based tech investor Square Peg. The startup had initially raised US$20 million in March, and now added US$35 million.

Other investors in the round are SIG and UOB Venture Management, alongside existing investors Go-Ventures, the venture capital arm of Gojek, and Openspace Ventures.

Founded in 2019, Pluang offers Indonesian retail investors the ability to invest in gold, equity indices, mutual funds and cryptocurrencies. Users can make micro-savings and micro-investing contributions from as low as about 50 US cents.

It has been selected to provide mini-apps within the ecosystems of other Indonesian tech companies, Gojek, Dana and Bukalapak. The company said that it has amassed 3 million registered users.

Pluang will use the additional funding to accelerate proprietary products to market for its customer base and hire talent.

Tushar Roy, partner at Square Peg, said that he is impressed with the ability of Pluang's founders - Claudia Kolonas and Richard Chua - to "democratise access to wealth creation opportunities for all Indonesians, and their sense of responsibility to improve financial literacy in Indonesia".

Aditya Kamath, partner of Go-Ventures, added: "We have been fortunate to double down on Pluang in every funding round making it one of our core portfolio holdings."