Indonesian e-commerce unicorn Bukalapak on Monday announced that it has launched a new fintech business unit and mutual funds selling agent (APERD) called Buka Investasi Bersama (BIB). The company said it aims to show its commitment to providing equal access to investment for everyone.
Bukalapak introduced its first investment service called BukaReksa in 2016, in partnership with online mutual funds platform Bareksa. Since then, BukaReksa has improved access to these services to Bukalapak’s users, many of them from outside of major cities and with various socio-economic backgrounds, including people who are currently not served by traditional banking and financial institutions.
“We hope BIB will provide more accessible investment services for everyone and it will debunk the old assumption that says investment service is only for a certain group of people,” said Teddy Oetomo, president of Bukalapak and CEO of BIB in a statement.
Buka Investasi Bersama is registered and supervised by Indonesia’s financial regulator OJK, making Bukalapak the first e-commerce platform to receive a license to sell mutual funds. Bukalapak and BIB target to have 500,000 mutual fund investors by 2021, according to the statement.