Indonesian digital lender JULO announced that it has secured US$80 million funding from Credit Saison, a Japanese financial services company affiliated to Mizuho Financial Group. This funding includes a mix of US$30 million in equity and US$50 million in debt financing by Credit Saison. JULO said that the US$30 million equity will be used to advance JULO’s analytics, for product development, marketing, and customer acquisition plans by hiring additional talent across their developer, data scientist and business intelligence teams. The investment from Credit Saison is part of the company’s continuous efforts to introduce its financial services foundation to high growth fintechs outside of Japan via a combination of capital and close operational partnerships. The investments mark the organization’s next steps to accelerate its expansion into the high-growth and promising Indonesian market.
In 2021, JULO launched a digital credit card, which saw 97% users utilizing non-cash features to top-up e-wallets, top up phone credits, pay utility bills, and process payments on e-commerce sites. In 2021, the total number of funds disbursed by JULO grew by more than three times as compared to the year prior and the company aims to increase its loan book by more than five times in the next 12 months.