The archive · Money & Fintech · Product decision · 2019–2026
Ajaib's bet on first-time investors grew 7M users and a $270M SBI round
Jakarta's Ajaib made stock investing as easy as e-wallets for first-time investors, reaching 7M users and a $270M SBI-led round.
Ajaib
What the business is
A Jakarta online brokerage where first-time investors open an account in minutes and buy stocks, mutual funds and crypto from one lot, with no minimum deposit and low fees on a mobile app.
Starting capital：More than $500M total, including a $65M Series A extension led by Ribbit Capital (March 2021, Series A total $90M), a $153M Series B that gave Ajaib unicorn status in 2021, and a $270M strategic investment from SBI Holdings announced August 28, 2026 - about Rp 4.8 trillion - for roughly a 20% stake implying a $1.35B valuation.
How it started
Anderson Sumarli and Yada Piyajomkwan - Stanford MBA classmates - founded Ajaib in Jakarta in 2019 as a Robinhood-style app with no minimum deposit, built for millennial and Gen Z investors. At the time fewer than 1% of Indonesians owned stocks, and brokerages served a small, established clientele.
What happened
Ajaib's low-fee trading app for stocks and mutual funds spread quickly among first-time investors: TechCrunch reported in March 2021 that it ran Indonesia's fourth-largest stock brokerage by number of trades as it closed a $65M Series A extension led by Ribbit Capital, bringing the Series A to $90M with Y Combinator Continuity, ICONIQ, Bangkok Bank and returning investors joining. A $153M Series B in 2021 took it past unicorn valuation. By August 2026, when SBI Holdings announced a $270M strategic investment - about Rp 4.8 trillion, reported as Indonesia's largest tech round since 2022 - Ajaib said it served more than seven million users, most of them first-time investors, spread into second- and third-tier cities, and planned to allocate the funds to expand across Southeast Asia.
How it ended up
Scaling: a seven-million-user retail brokerage with SBI Holdings as a roughly 20% strategic shareholder, total funding past $500M, and the round earmarked for regional expansion across Southeast Asia.
Background
Ajaib is a Jakarta online brokerage founded in 2019 by Anderson Sumarli and Yada Piyajomkwan, Stanford MBA classmates, as a Robinhood-style app with no minimum deposit, built for millennial and Gen Z investors. Its bet: Indonesia's excluded young population would start investing if opening an account and buying a single lot of shares took minutes on a phone, with low fees and in-app education.
The timing was right: in 2019 fewer than 1% of Indonesians owned stocks, and a wave of young first-time investors was arriving. By March 2021 Ajaib was Indonesia's fourth-largest brokerage by number of trades when it extended its Series A to $90M, with Ribbit Capital leading a $65M add-on and Y Combinator Continuity, ICONIQ, Bangkok Bank, Horizons Ventures and SoftBank Ventures Asia participating. A $153M Series B later that year took it past unicorn valuation.
Growth compounded as the app added crypto and stablecoins alongside stocks and mutual funds. In August 2026, SBI Holdings announced a $270M strategic investment - about Rp 4.8 trillion - in what reports called Indonesia's largest tech round since 2022 and the biggest amount raised by an Indonesian technology company in four years. The deal put SBI's stake at roughly 20%, implying a valuation near $1.35B, and lifted Ajaib's total funding past $500M.
Ajaib says it now serves more than seven million users, most of them first-time investors, spread across second- and third-tier Indonesian cities, and plans to allocate the SBI capital to expanding its business across Southeast Asia while keeping most of the investment at home.
What has to be true
- The wedge was real exclusion: brokerages demanded minimums and paperwork, so Ajaib let people open an account and buy from one lot in minutes on a phone.
- Education rode along with trading: instead of preaching financial literacy separately, the app taught first-time users inside the product as they bought stocks, mutual funds and later crypto.
- Investor alignment followed product-market fit: Ribbit Capital, the Robinhood backer, led the Series A extension, and global funds including DST Global joined as Ajaib scaled.
- Seven million users, mostly beginners, made Ajaib the strategic asset SBI wanted for Southeast Asia: the Japanese group paid $270M for roughly a 20% stake.
What can be applied
When the barrier is minimums and literacy, cut the minimum and educate inside the app: one-lot trades turned a country of under 1% stock ownership into a 7M-user market.
Aftermath
As of September 2, 2026, Ajaib is scaling: SBI Holdings' $270M investment, announced August 28, 2026, was reported as Indonesia's largest tech round since 2022, put total funding past $500M and implied a valuation near $1.35B on SBI's roughly 20% stake. Ajaib said the funds would expand its business across Southeast Asia while keeping the largest share invested in Indonesia. It serves more than seven million users, most of them first-time investors, and faces local rivals such as Bibit and Pluang, which also raised during the same 2021 wave of Indonesian retail-investing apps.
Sources
- Ajaib raises $65M Series A extension led by Ribbit Capital, increasing the round's total to $90M
- Ajaib Terima Suntikan Dana Rp 4,8 Triliun dari SBI Holdings
- Ajaib Raises $270 Million From SBI Holdings in Indonesia's Largest Tech Round Since 2022
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