Indonesian fintech startup Cashlez secures US$2mil in funding

• Funding will be used to purchase card readers and for marketing purposes
• Aims to distribute 4,000 card readers to Indonesian SMEs this year

INDONESIAN financial technology (fintech) startup Cashlez secures US$2 million funding led by the Corporate Venture Capital (CVC) arm of Mandiri Group, Mandiri Capital Indonesia (MCI).

Cashlez also received an undisclosed amount of funding from individuals and GAN Capital.

With this round, MCI has invested around 300 billion rupiah (US$22.44 million) in seven fintech companies incuding Moka and Amartha.

“By synergizing with Mandiri Capital, we encourage merchants to use e-money (by Mandiri) and we also get the opportunity to collaborate with Moka POS which is one of our strategies to integrate our business’ potential,” said Cashlez chief executive officer and co-founder Teddy Setiawan.

Cashlez is a fintech startup with a mPOS (mobile point of sale) system which offers digital payment solutions using credit or debit cards via a mobile app that will be connected to a dongle or card reader via Bluetooth. The system will carry out real-time monitoring of every business transaction that takes place at a merchant (user).

Established in 2015, Cashlez targets local merchants or Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) by providing payment options that they can offer to customers.

“We will contribute towards accelerating the process of getting local merchants to accept cashless payment options by using credit or debit cards. Our part is to provide solutions and education in digital payment solutions especially in the Indonesian SME market,” Teddy says.

Seeing the same vision as Cashlez, Mandiri Capital Indonesia chief executive officer Eddi Danusaptro says that Cashlez will help Mandiri reach more SMEs by providing options in digital payment to merchants.

“Through Cashlez, local SMEs have a chance to apply cost-effective and innovative digital payment solutions in their businesses. We see great prospects in Cashlez’s product in giving better services to our users.”

Teddy also says that the funding will be used as capital to purchase more dongles that are imported from Hongkong. He aims to distribute 4,000 card readers nationwide this year.

“Other than purchasing card readers, we will also use the funding to enhance our marketing campaign. A good product needs to have good communications,” he adds.

Diving into a new market

When asked about competition with Electronic Data Capture (EDC) machines which also facilitate digital payments, Teddy (pic, above) feels that there is no competition for them, but they are seeking new market for their products.

Merchants can purchase Cashlez’s card reader or dongle at local online marketplaces such as Elevenia and Tokopedia for 1.7 million rupiah (US$127).

“After they purchase the card reader, they have to download the Cashlez mobile app on Android or iOS. They then input the transaction amount on the app, swipe or plug in a credit or debit card through the dongle, and proof of the transaction will be sent to the customer’s email,” Teddy explains.

Teddy also tells Digital News Asia (DNA) that his company generates revenue by receiving 2% of every successful transaction.

Cashlez began operations in September 2016 and to date, has collaborated with 1,000 merchants, 61% of which are in the retails and travel sectors. Cashlez sees 15 billion rupiah (US$11.22 million) in average monthly transactions.

“We work best with retail and travel merchants because our system accepts all types of cards such as Visa, Mastercard, and JCB from various banks which are acceptable worldwide. We also aim to get our average monthly transactions up to 50 billion rupiah (US$37.39 million) this year,” he says.

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