Finantier

Overview

Finantier set out in 2020 to become the financial-data layer for Southeast Asia. Its APIs pulled consented information from banks, wallets, payroll, e-commerce, telecom, and gig platforms, then returned normalized accounts, identity and income checks, credit scores, and payment instructions. The company joined Y Combinator's Winter 2021 batch and grew from nine employees to a reported 50 in seven months.^[1][5]

Finantier closed in 2023 and later entered compulsory liquidation. Its product thesis was directionally right, but the company tried to sell shared infrastructure before Indonesia had shared rules. Each data provider and country added consent, commercial, technical, and regulatory work. A flat platform subscription with no setup or transaction fees risked separating revenue from that burden.^[6]

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Founding Story

Diego Rojas, Keng Low, and Edwin Kusuma formed Finantier in 2020 with unusually relevant backgrounds. Rojas had built financial products at LendingClub in the United States and Dianrong in China, then served as CTO at startups in Southeast Asia. Low had been an entrepreneur-in-residence at East Ventures. Kusuma had worked at Google and at several fintech companies.^[3]

The founders first examined open banking, the model used by Plaid and Tink to connect bank accounts to third-party apps. Southeast Asia posed a different problem. Many consumers had useful payment, work, and commerce histories but no traditional credit file. Rojas described a system “where consumers can securely access and use data they generate across multiple platforms.”^[3]

Low found the need in the street-level economics of Jakarta. During the pandemic he spoke with Gojek drivers who wanted loans to buy motorcycles. “They said the bank and fintech firms wouldn't help them, because they don't have a credit history,” he told KrASIA.^[6] Wallet transactions, completed rides, phone use, and e-commerce history could show income and repayment capacity that a bank file missed.

That insight pushed the team from open banking toward open finance. Finantier would negotiate access to many data sources once, normalize the results, and expose them through developer APIs. Lenders and other financial apps could then serve consumers whom conventional underwriting excluded.

East Ventures led an undisclosed pre-seed round in November 2020 with AC Ventures and Genesia Ventures. At that point Finantier had nine employees, no paid users, and conversations with dozens of companies about API access. A month later, TechCrunch described more than 20 beta clients and Finantier announced its acceptance into Y Combinator.^[2] The difference between beta relationships and paid adoption would remain important.

Timeline

• Early 2020: Rojas, Low, and Kusuma found Finantier in Singapore and Indonesia.
• November 2020: East Ventures leads an undisclosed pre-seed round. The product has no paid users and the team has nine people.^[3]
• December 2020: Finantier reports more than 20 beta clients and joins Y Combinator's Winter 2021 batch.^[2]
• June 2021: Global Founders Capital and East Ventures lead an oversubscribed seven-figure seed round. The company reports 50 employees and more than 50% monthly growth in clients and partnerships.^[5]
• December 2021: Indonesia's OJK records Finantier Score as an innovative credit-scoring provider.^[8]
• June 2022: Finantier joins Mastercard's inaugural Start Path Open Banking program.^[10]
• October 2022: The company announces partnerships with Visa and Finpay.^[11][12]
• December 2022: Finantier and Katadata publish a 109-page study of open-finance opportunities and barriers in Indonesia.^[13]
• August 30, 2023: A director files a winding-up application in Singapore.^[15]
• September 21, 2023: DealStreetAsia reports that Finantier has shut down.^[14]
• 2024–2025: The Singapore entity enters compulsory liquidation, with creditors called to review assets and liabilities in March 2025.^[16]