Overview

Small- and medium-scale enterprises (“SMEs”), which in general are now more popularly known as start-ups, have taken the crown as Indonesia’s pre-eminent economic catalyst since they currently account for approximately 58.92% of the country’s gross domestic product.[1] However, SMEs only receive a small portion of the country’s overall bank lending, a mere 18.7% in fact. This is in spite of the fact that funding is absolutely crucial for emerging SMEs.[2] In response to this disconnect, the Financial Technology (“Fintech”) sector has emerged as an alternative source of funding for SMEs.