PinjamWinWin is not a new player in Indonesia’s fintech scene; it just happened to come from a smaller metropolitan city in the country: Surabaya. The company has been around since 2016 after doing a test market in Surabaya a year prior.

“We’ve actually got an operational license from OJK (Otoritas Jasa Keuangan-Indonesian Financial Services Authority) in 2017, but due to an administrative issue, the license was delayed until this year in February. So, yes, we’ve been around for quite some time,” said Susanto.

The company differs itself from other lending platforms when it comes to its fast loan offer. Sutanto explained that PinjamWinWin charges no admin fee with a slightly cheaper interest rate.

“We’ve got a pretty good response at that time. Many other smart online credit fails to come through with their initial offer, ended up giving loan lower than the offer with even higher interest,” Susanto explained.

Credit loans for everyone

Like most other P2P lending platforms, it only takes a few hours for users to get their loan applications approved. PinjamWinWin’s proprietary verification technology is AI-powered, used to check the loan history of the applicants.

The technology uses the combination that is OJK-approved, with a camera for face recognition, as well as the completion of data such as where the applicants are based and their phone number.

“We ask for a picture of the applicant’s and lender’s ID, bank account’s record, and the picture of them holding the ID. We also would like to see pictures that showcase their businesses if they apply the loan for their business. Upon completion, the approval process is quick,” Sutanto added.

As for lenders, PinjamWinWin said that it guarantees data confidentiality and offers commission per completed transaction.

New backer

PinjamWinWin recently made news when it was reported to receive funding from SOSV, which is a top 20 US venture capital fund, according to PitchBook. PinjamWinWin also recently graduated from SOSV’s Mobile Only Accelerator (MOX), an accelerator program that focusses on emerging markets such as Southeast Asia and South Asia.

In regards to this, Sutanto said that this was their first funding ever simply because they never explored the possibility of inviting outside counsels on how to run their lending platform. “We were already profitable, so the need for investors to support us wasn’t really in our contingency plan,” Sutanto explained.

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SOSV, Sutanto said, offers not just funding support, but more importantly the knowledge of brand awareness, marketing, overall guidance to reach the milestones that PinjamWinWin eventually needs to reach to be able to grow.

“We’ve been keeping things under the radar for quite a long time because it works for us. Having such a world-caliber accelerator believes in us is necessary. It doesn’t hurt that it also makes us look more professional,” Sutanto added.

Sutanto also shared that he started the company with only one person, which then grew to three, and steadily reached 10 people that stick around with them, watching the company grew into the 18 people that they have today.

“We started out web-based only, and now we have a mobile app to better reach our users’ potential borrowers,” said Sutanto.

Hang in there

P2P lending platform in Indonesia is a crowded space, so how did PinjamWinWin survive so long without backers?

“Our lenders are mostly a private connection. We survive on bigger loans although not necessary eliminating small loans. Through our personal network, we are able to acquire lenders that have the capacity to lend to bigger companies,” Sutanto said, shared about how once PinjamWinWin facilitated a loan between the government-owned electricity company and bricks conglomerate.

The reason behind focussing mostly on bigger loans is simply due to the longer it would take for a return.

Sutanto said that PinjamWinWin needs to be able to survive amidst the fierce P2P market, which he said 97 per cent concentrated in the capital city of Jakarta. To be able to do that, besides joining VC fund like SOSV, is to maintain enough flow of lenders investing to be borrowed by applicants in big numbers.

“After all, we’re a part of the small numbers of P2P not based in Jakarta,” he said, stating that there are only about five P2P lending platform that he knows of running operation outside Jakarta.

Added feature

Along with announcing its funding news, PinjamWinWin also adds up to 80 per cent insurance coverage offer. “Our lenders can have the benefit of peace of mind when giving loans through our platform as it will be replaced if something happens,” Sutanto said.

However, in the three months since the insurance coverage was offered, there’s never been a claim submitted, showing high reliability of the business.

The company that claims to have 12 to 48 per cent interest rate shares about its demographics, consists of 21-55 years old age group of borrowers, with 80 per cent remaining 21-40 years of age.

A business that helps

Is it a surprise if a company like PinjamWinWin was started by a founder who has a wealth of knowledge in a completely different field?

That’s what happened with PinjamWinWin. Sutanto, the founder, was a brick businessman first, which was why he had the network to connect and use PinjamWinWin to facilitate big players.

He then spent three years in Australia working in Commonwealth Bank as a Relationship Manager in charge of about 200 SMEs during his tenure.

He decided to go back to Indonesia in 2010 to work on his brick business while spending the next three years trying to find a business that he can run. He then settled in building an oxygen factory in Dili, the neighbouring Timor Leste.

Also Read: Financing your business – should you use P2P lending services or bank loans?

Once the factory can run on its own, the entrepreneurial itch was back, and Sutanto found himself caught in reality in the market.

“At that time I was in Kalimantan (Borneo Island) for the brick business, and I found a possible business that can actually help people. It was rice,” he said, reminiscing about the early days.

He was appalled by how controlled and how little farmers made selling their rice crops and was inspired to do something about it. “We ran an app-based startup to help farmers sell directly to buyers without having to go through the middle-men, and it worked, but just for one season,” he added.

Sutanto stated that the local mafia controlling the transaction and the bulk of the orders were the reasons it was impossible to continue. “I had to leave and close the business. It was tragic,” he said.

The time he closed the business was also the time he learned about UangTeman, which was one of the P2P lending pioneers in the country. He learned about UangTeman’s business model and was inspired to create PinjamWinWin.

The recent suicide case of a borrower of fintech, as well as the viral case of a fintech that contacted emergency contacts of borrowers threatening and harassing, were both a wakeup call. “Especially for OJK. Now everything is stricter. No transaction volume is more than IDR2 billion (US$143,000). Hendrikus Passagi (OJK’s director) made sure of it,” Sutanto added.

“We tried to start off and offer the sensible interest rate, avoiding cases where our borrowers would end up getting in trouble. That’s why we mostly take bigger tickets. Although we only get a handful of loans, the number allows us to give lower interest rate for borrowers because the capital money is bigger and releasing it through our platform makes it a fair play and can actually help those in need of financing, ” Sutanto emphasised.

PinjamWinWin finances personal loans of US$35-350 and invoice financing of US$3500-150.000. Through the platform, users also have the option of placing their funds and becoming lenders to enjoy a fixed annual interest of 12-48 per cent.
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