Meet Komunal! This Indonesian startup just raised an $8.5M bridge round led by East Ventures Growth. They're here to digitize small Indonesian banks and give MSMEs more access to capital.

• 350% YoY growth, baby! They channeled $230M (3.6B IDR) worth of deposits and loans to MSMEs and BPRs in 2022.
• 220+ BPRs across 19 Indonesian provinces have joined their DepositoBPR platform.

Investor check. AlphaTrio Sustainable Technology Fund, Skystar Capital, Sovereign's Capital, Ozora and Gobi Partners also joined in!

• They last raised a $2.1M Series A last year.

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2️⃣  It takes two

Right now, they've got two products:

Komunal P2P lending. They connect MSMEs who need capital with potential lenders who want to invest some $$$.

• Why would lenders care? They can start with as little as 100,000 IDR and get competitive interest. It's a way of investing and earning more cash later on.
• Lenders can pick the specific projects they want to finance.

DepositoBPR. Their app helps BPR banks go digital and serve customers better!

• Local context. BPR stands for "People's Credit Bank," an Indonesian bank similar to a rural bank.

• BPRs take savings and deposits and give out loans — most of these are super small, only have one branch and focus on serving their local community in a city/rural area.

How? It allows BPR banks' customers to let anyone open deposit accounts, make deposits and track their money through their phones. No more heading to the actual BPR bank!

• Convenience with no sacrifices. Keep enjoying the perks of BPRs, like higher interest rates on government-guaranteed deposits.

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💰 What's with the $$$

They'll keep accelerating financial inclusion and growing Indonesia's neo-rural bank ecosystem, especially outside Greater Jakarta.

• This offers more financial inclusion opportunities for MSMEs in Tier 2 and 3 cities.
• Beyond Java and Bali. They're looking to reach a wider set of customers, especially for their BPR platform!