Ajaib Group, a digital investment platform, has announced the completion of a $25 million Series A funding round. The company reports being the fifth-largest stock brokerage in Indonesia based on trading volume. This investment was spearheaded by Horizons Ventures, the venture capital firm established by Li Ka-Shing, alongside Alpha JWC. Existing investors, including SoftBank Ventures Asia, Insignia Ventures, and Y Combinator, also contributed to this financing, which occurred in two stages.

Established in 2019 by Anderson Sumarli, who serves as CEO, and Yada Piyajomkwan, the COO, Ajaib Group concentrates on attracting millennial and new investors. The platform currently boasts one million active monthly users. With this latest round, the total funding secured by Ajaib Group reaches $27 million, adding to the $2 million seed funding received in 2019.

Currently, stock market participation in Indonesia remains quite limited, with approximately 1.6 million investors in the capital market, representing less than 1% of the nation’s population. In contrast, Gallup data indicates that around 55% of Americans are stock owners.

This low participation rate, combined with increased retail investor interest in the capital markets during the recent pandemic, has attracted venture capital investment to online investment platforms, particularly those geared towards millennials. Last week, Bibit, an Indonesian investment application, revealed a $30 million growth round led by Sequoia Capital India. Additionally, Bareksa, another online investment platform, confirmed receiving an undisclosed Series B investment from the OVO payment app last year.

The founders of Ajaib Group emphasize their platform’s distinction as a stock trading service with reduced fees, alongside offerings of mutual funds for portfolio diversification. Bibit functions as a robo-advisor specializing in mutual funds, while Bareksa operates as a marketplace for mutual funds.

In a communication with TechCrunch, Sumarli and Piyajomkwan explained that the limited rate of stock investment in Indonesia is largely due to its historical dominance by high-net-worth individuals utilizing traditional, offline brokers and incurring substantial commission fees. Ajaib Group was founded in 2019 following Sumarli’s experience with the scarcity of accessible investment platforms in Indonesia that also provided educational resources on stock trading.

Drawing inspiration from companies like Robinhood in the United States and XP Investimentos in Brazil, Ajaib Group was designed as a mobile-first stock trading platform, eliminating the need for physical brokerages or branches. It aims to appeal to new and millennial investors through its intuitive interface, integrated educational tools, a community for sharing investment insights, and competitive fee structure.

Recognizing that new users often prefer to begin with smaller investments, Ajaib does not impose minimum deposit requirements for opening a brokerage account. Piyajomkwan noted, “We commonly observe investors tripling their initial investment within their second month of using Ajaib.”

Ajaib Group’s current offerings include Ajaib Sekuritas for stock trading and Ajaib Reksadana for mutual funds. The company states that Ajaib Sekuritas achieved the position of fifth-largest stock brokerage in Indonesia by trading volume within just seven months of its launch in June 2020.

The Indonesian government and the Indonesia Stock Exchange have initiated programs to promote increased stock market investment. A portion of Ajaib Group’s Series A funding will support its #MentorInvestai campaign, a collaborative effort with the government to educate millennials about investing and financial planning. The funds will also be allocated to enhancing Ajaib’s technological infrastructure, expanding its product range, and recruiting additional engineering talent.

While Ajaib may consider expansion into other Southeast Asian markets in the future, its immediate focus remains on Indonesia. “Ajaib was conceived with regional ambitions, given that its two founders originate from the two largest capital markets in Southeast Asia – Indonesia and Thailand,” Piyajomkwan stated. “However, in the short term, we are prioritizing Indonesia, as investment penetration remains low and there is a significant opportunity to serve more millennial investors.”