Indonesian e-wallet Ovo is now officially considered Indonesia’s fifth unicorn, or startup company worth over USD 1 billion.
The country’s Communication and Information Technology Minister Rudiantara said towards local media Kompas.com today that he had confirmed it directly with the founder.
Kompas quotes data from analytics firm CB Insight by which Ovo is actually already estimated to be worth USD 2.9 billion and hit this milestone in March 2018.
Ovo was launched by Indonesian conglomerate Lippo Group, which also has stakes in ride-hailing firm Grab. Ovo is the second largest digital wallet in Indonesia after Gopay, based on an iPrice Group ranking that looks at monthly active users. Besides Gopay, it competes with Ant Financial-backed Dana, Indonesia’s state owned-backed LinkAja, and the private lender BTPN’s Jenius.
The other four unicorns from Indonesia are Gojek, Tokopedia, Traveloka, and Bukalapak. Ovo’s e-wallet is integrated into several platforms, including ride-hailing firm Grab and e-commerce marketplace Tokopedia.