Skor Technologies, the parent company of Indonesia-focused Skorlife and the new Scorecard credit card announced it had raised $6.2 million in its latest Pre-A round. Argor Capital, a Southeast Asia-focused VC, led the round. Its previous investors, QED Investors and Saison Capital, and new investor, the Digital Currency Group, also participated in the round, bringing the total capital raised to more than $12 million for the fintech company.
Skor last raised $4 million in May 2023 while focusing on its credit-education product Skorlife. However, it launched a digital-first credit card called Skorcard in March 2024 in partnership with Bank Mayapada International. And over the past several months, the company has been focused on setting up the card operations and testing the card demand and take-up with users.
Indonesia’s credit card market opportunity has huge potential upside as the credit card penetration remains very low. And financial literacy among Indonesians is also low based on several surveys.
To grow the company, Skor has had to overcome several barriers including navigating regulations, building a proprietary risk framework, and competing offerings by banks and other fintech players to deliver its products and services.
Skorcard and Bank Mayapada International created a mutually beneficial partnership, where the bank has embarked on opening a BaaS platform to create new growth opportunities and Skorcard’s value proposition fits well.
As a digital first credit card, Skor is one of the few startups focused on building a monoline credit product, with a purpose-built mobile app that has employed gamification as a major differentiator in how they engage the user. And the company also claims it leverages data in unique ways to assist and engage users. In the first year of operation, Skorcard surpassed $10 million in annualized spend volume. Skorlife, the credit-education platform, also passed two million downloads.
Skor Technologies has also been strengthening its team with new hires. Kush Srivastava joined Ongki Kurniawan and Karan Khetan as the third co-founder, bringing a wealth of experience in fintech and technology with his past stints as co-founder of Card91. And Kirill Odinstov joins as CRO and Head of Data Science. Krill was Head of Underwriting at HomeCredit Indonesia. Surendra Singh who was Head of Data at Fi, another fintech startup, also joins Skor to head data analytics.
Skor Technologies has a vision of two million cards but set clear sights for this year, where they expect to cross $100 million in transaction volume. And the funding will be focused on helping the business achieve scale while growing the team with key talents across the organization.
KEY QUOTES:
“From eWallets, BNPL to QRIS, fintech players and the regulators have played a tremendous role in innovation – digitizing payments and giving more people access to credit; both play a critical role in setting the foundational requirements for consumers to adopt credit-line as a ‘lifestyle’ product. We believe Indonesia is a supply constrained market for the credit-line product, and it is the right time to solve this growing consumer need, starting with a digital-first credit card. The opportunity to build a two million card base customer exists, and along with our bank partners we are incredibly motivated to make this a reality.”
- Ongki Kurniawan, co-founder and CEO of Skor
“As a bank, we see partnerships like Skorcard instrumental in growing our consumer banking business which leverages our strengths with theirs. The pilot program we ran with Skorcard proved we can operate this win-win partnership, and now we are looking to scale this partnership into 2025.”
- Vincent Suteja, Consumer Lending Head
“We see tremendous potential for growth in the Indonesian consumer credit market and are excited to back Skor with its distinct product offerings and vastly experienced management team. Skor’s leadership team comprises individuals with complementary skillsets; together, the team has a combination of deep domain expertise, thorough understanding of the pain points in the Indonesian consumer credit market and a strong network of relationships in the financial services ecosystem. We are backing Skor to empower millions of Indonesians to improve their financial wellbeing while enhancing their access to credit.”
- Sid Pisharody, Partner at Argor Capital
“We are deeply committed to supporting Ongki, Karan, and Kush as they revolutionize Indonesia’s financial landscape through their innovative digital-first credit card and credit education platform. Their remarkable progress in engaging customers, navigating regulatory frameworks, and fostering strategic partnerships demonstrates the strength of their vision. As the company enters its next growth phase focused on scaling its credit card offerings, we are energized by the phenomenal potential ahead.”
- Sandeep Patil, Partner and Head of Asia at QED Investors
