Meet Mapan! They're an Indonesian fintech startup that helps low-income Indonesians easily afford household goods. (Hint: it isn't through loans!) Now, they've raised a $15M Series A co-led by Patamar Capital and Astra International!

• Mapan was acquired by Gojek in 2017.
• They've provided financing to help 3M+ households afford goods like cookware, electronics and furniture.

Who else cashed in? BRI Ventures, SMDV, Blibli, Flourish Ventures, 500 Global and Prasetia Dwidharma.

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🇮🇩 The big pivot

In 2015, they pivoted the fintech to Arisan services, which stem from traditional Indonesian culture.

• Arisan groups are rotating savings and credit associations (ROSCAs).

Arisan groups are small social groups (typically women) that pool money together regularly. Using the pooled together cash, members of the group take turns purchasing products.

• For example, you're in an Arisan group of 5 members. Each month, you contribute $15. That means that at the end of the month, one member gets to use the pooled $75 for a purchase. This repeats each month as long as the group exists

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💥 Bringing tech to the traditional

Mapan digitizes this process! They recruit group leaders (MUMs) who will then use Mapan's app that uses an algorithm to decide which Arisan member will get to use the pooled money for that month. (No cheating the system here!)

• Mapan's MUMs get perks like cashback commissions based on the total transactions and a loyalty program with benefits like e-wallet credits, gold bars, motorcycles, savings and house downpayments.
• MUMs also upsell Arisan members to Mapan's other services.

Mapan's Arisan members can only use the items for purchases of household goods from 200,000 IDR to 3M IDR (aka, $13.48 to $200) instead of receiving cash.

• Purchases are made through Mapan, which offers lower prices for these goods than store prices.

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💰 What's with the $$$?

They'll be improving their Arisan product, launching new products and partnering with more suppliers for their goods marketplace. Another big goal is to bring Mapan Arisan to 10M Indonesian households by 2026!