Last year saw a huge boom in funding from Southeast Asian consumer investment apps, and if today’s Pintu funding announcement is any help, it looks set to continue. The cryptocurrency-focused app has raised a $113 million Series B from Intudo Ventures, Lightspeed, Northstart Group, and Pantera Capital. Launched in April 2020, Pintu bills itself as the “leading local crypto asset platform in Indonesia”. This is the third round of financing that the startup has obtained in just over a year. The first was a $6 million Series A announced in May 2021, and the second was a $35 million Series A+ financing just two months later. At the time, Pintu COO Andrew Adjiputro told TechCrunch that he raised an A+ instead of moving to a Series B because his focus on product development and execution remained the same. Now, 10 months later, Pintu’s CMO Timothius Martin tells TechCrunch that he has added more tokens, bringing the total to 66 available, with more being added every month. The app also added additional payment channel integrations; Pintu Staking, which allows users to stake their Pintu Token; and Pintu Earn, a product that allows them to earn up to 15% Annual Percentage Yield (APY) on select crypto assets that are paid hourly with no lock-in period. Users can top up or withdraw their Earn wallet at any time. According to data from the Indonesian Commodity Futures Trading Regulatory Agency (Bappepti), the number of cryptocurrency investors in Indonesia doubled over the past year to more than 12 million traders, compared to 7 million investors. of national public capital. But given that crypto ownership still has a 4% penetration rate among the population, the Pintu team notes that it has plenty of room to grow. Pintu is registered and licensed by Bappepti. The app targets first-time crypto investors, primarily Gen Z and millennials with features like Pintu Academy, an educational program. It allows them to invest in Bitcoin, Ethereum and other cryptocurrencies. It currently says that more than four million people have installed the app, up from 500,000 in May 2021. The app also has communities with a total of 790,000 members on Telegram, Discord, Instagram and TikTok. The company will use its latest funding, which brings its total raised to around $156 million, to add more compatible tokens and blockchains and new products. It plans to expand its Pintu Academy program to, as they say, “help traders understand both the opportunities and risks of cryptocurrency investing and promote healthier and more sustainable business practices.” It will also make additional hires, having doubled its team to 200 in 2021. The pandemic spurred interest in retail investment last year, and as the pandemic subsides, Martin said, “we see the market being more mature now compared to with last year. Users are starting to make investment decisions based on the use cases of crypto assets. For example, gaming is a big thing in Indonesia with over 100 million gamers in the country. This spurs significant growth in gaming-related crypto assets and metaverses, as many believe these projects are contributing to the future of gaming.” In a prepared statement, Lightspeed partner Hemant Mohapatra said: “We are excited to continue our journey with Pintu and welcome our new partner Northstar Group. Since our investment in August of last year, Pintu has grown fivefold to become the leading retail crypto broker in the country and has hired one of the strongest teams we have seen in this market. The crypto wave is entering mainstream adoption globally and Pintu is building a generational company in this category.”
