SBI takes 20% stake in Indonesian broker Ajaib for $270M

SBI Holdings, one of Japan’s largest financial conglomerates, is investing $270 million for a 20% stake in Ajaib, Indonesia’s first fully online stock brokerage. The deal implies a valuation of roughly $1.35 billion for Ajaib, a meaningful step up from where the company stood after its last publicly known funding round. For context, Ajaib raised $153 million in a Series B round back in October 2021, which pegged the company at approximately $1 billion post-money. So in a little over three years, the platform’s implied valuation has jumped by about 35%, even as many fintech startups globally have seen their valuations deflate. What Ajaib actually does Founded around 2018-2019 by Anderson Sumarli, Ajaib carved out a niche as Indonesia’s answer to Robinhood. The app-based platform lets users trade Indonesian stocks, mutual funds, bonds, US equities, and crypto assets, all through a low-fee model designed to appeal to millennials and Gen Z investors. Ajaib now counts over 3 million users on its platform, operating under oversight from Indonesia’s financial services authority (OJK) and the Indonesia Stock Exchange (BEI). Prior to SBI’s reported investment, Ajaib had raised approximately...