The Jakarta-based start-up would also be joining the list of Indonesian unicorns namely Gojek, Tokopedia, Bukalapak, Traveloka, OVO, Xendit and J&T Express. However, the latter has yet to confirm its unicorn status.

“We proudly announce that today Ajaib became Indonesia’s seventh unicorn and the first investment fintech unicorn in Southeast Asia. Thank you to our one million investors for getting us here,” Ajaib wrote on their official Twitter account.

Established in 2018, Ajaib became a unicorn within two years, setting a record for the fastest company in the region to reach a $1 billion valuation, claimed the statement.

The fintech start-up also announced raising $153 million in its Series B funding round led by China-based DST Global, with participation from Alpha JWC, Ribbit Capital, Horizons Ventures, Insignia Ventures and SoftBank Ventures Asia.

Anderson Sumarli, Ajaib’s cofounder and chief executive, said the fresh fund would be used for “expansive” hiring and educational campaigns for first-time investors.

The latest round of investment led Ajaib’s total funding to $243 million in 2021 alone. The company previously bagged $90 million from Ribbit Capital in March.

“Our mission is to welcome the new generation of investors to the modern financial service,” he said in a press statement. “We have a long journey ahead [...] to increase financial inclusion and literacy in Indonesia.”

Indonesia welcomed more than 1 million new equity investors in the first eight months of the year, bringing the retail equity investors to 2.69 million as of August, according to the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX).

Read also: Record number of Indonesians rush into stock market

“Ajaib has made a world-class product with modern technology to serve Indonesian youth in entering the capital market,” said Thomas Stafford, managing partner at DST Global.

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