Indonesia digital lending startup Julo working towards IPO

JULO, an Indonesian online lending startup, said it’s working towards an initial public offering (IPO) as its annual revenue nears US$100 million.

The company is speaking with investors for a pre-IPO financing round and has started exploring options for a public listing, it said on Monday (Feb 26), without disclosing details.

The startup is seeking funds at a time when many peers are struggling for capital, as the venture industry globally grapples with elevated interest rates and inflation. Investors, once thrilled to write checks, are becoming more choosy and are doling out less favourable terms.

Revenue rose 73 per cent in 2023 and reached an annual run rate of US$121 million at the end of the year, said Ankur Mehrotra, Julo’s group president who previously headed Grab Holdings’s lending business. Julo expects to reach profitability on a net income basis in 2024, after recording profit before tax for December.

Startups such as Julo now have to demonstrate to investors that they can grow and make money at the same time. Julo said it disbursed 7.3 million loans last year totalling US$454 million, with the number of loans more than doubling from a year earlier.

Julo’s app lets users in Indonesia apply for loans, withdraw and send cash and pay school fees. The Jakarta-based startup, which targets the country’s middle-market income segment, raised US$80 million from Credit Saison in 2022. BLOOMBERG