To turn it into a digibank, WeLab bought a 24 per cent stake in Bank Jasa Jakarta in December last year. Through a consortium called WeLab Sky, it raised US$240 million from new and existing investors to pull off the deal
Astra International has invested 3.9 trillion rupiah (around US$259 million) into Bank Jasa Jakarta, a digibank backed by Hong Kong-based fintech firm WeLab. The deal was done through Indonesian conglomerate Astra subsidiary Sedaya Multi Investama (SMI).
SMI currently has 1.1 million shares, or a 49.56 per cent stake, in the local bank. At the same time, WeLab also increased its ownership in the digibank to 49.56 per cent.
To turn it into a digibank, WeLab bought a 24 per cent stake in Bank Jasa Jakarta in December last year. Through a consortium called WeLab Sky, it raised US$240 million from new and existing investors to pull off the deal.
The total amount of the transaction reached US$518 million, that WeLab claimed as the biggest acquisition deal in the Southeast Asian digibank space this year.
At the time, WeLab Group CEO Simon Loong said that the company plans to launch the digibank app by the second half of this year and will leverage its experience in building WeLab Bank in Hong Kong.
WeLab Sky counts Allianz X – the tech investment arm of insurance giant Allianz – Boyu Capital, Horizons Ventures, SCBX Group and Taipei Fubon Bank Capital as its backers.
It’s not the first time WeLab has partnered with Astra International. In 2018, both companies set up a joint venture to build an online lending platform called Maucash, which has attracted millions of users to date.
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