Karaniya Dharmasaputra, OVO’s President Director

Digital financial services firm Visionet International’s (OVO’s) heyday might meet an end, as Lippo Group founder Mochtar Riady has sold 70 per cent of its stake in OVO to other parties.

Stating the reason is its high level of spending, Riady further explained: “We’re not letting go of our stake. We’re merely selling two-thirds of it. We’re retaining the remaining 30 per cent of our stake,” Mochtar said, as quoted in The Jakarta Post, during the 2019 Indonesia Digital Conference, an event organised by the Indonesian Cyber Media Association (AMSI) in Jakarta.

Rumours have been circulated since earlier this year that Lippo Group would sell its stake in OVO as the company could no longer inject more funds into the fintech firm. Lippo Group was paying around US$50 million to OVO per month.

On a different occasion, OVO President Director Karaniya Dharmasaputra denied the rumors, saying that OVO was originally founded and developed by Lippo Group. Dharmasaputra was firm on how the future of OVO has been discussed with Lippo Group director John Riady.

In Fintech Report 2019, it is stated that 82.7 per cent of Indonesians were aware of digital wallet platforms, while 62.4 per cent were aware of digital investment and 56.7 per cent of pay-later services. The report confirms that digital payment is indeed the most popular type of financial technology (fintech) service for Indonesians.

Also Read: OVO expands to P2P lending service by acquiring Taralite

The study, which involved 1,500 respondents nationwide, also found that GoPay topped OVO in terms of digital payment use even with OVO’s awareness being higher than GoPay.

Furthermore, Riady also shared his two cents about the technological development in the sector as the survival key. “Artificial intelligence would be the logical continuation of digital technology in the near future. Digital technology is not new. It began its life in 1946, so it’s now 74 years old, so I believe it will soon be replaced by AI, where everything is done by robots,” added Riady.

A little over a month ago, Finance Asia in its report cited a source that claimed OVO to have reached unicorn status through its latest funding round at US$2.9 billion valuations.
–

The post “We’re burning money,” Lippo Group founder Mochtar Riady, selling 70 per cent stake in the omnipresent e-wallet OVO appeared first on e27.