Crypto asset management platform, NOBI (PT Encryption Technology Handal) announced seed funding of $4 million or IDR 57.1 billion. This round was led by AC Ventures, with the participation of Appworks, Skystar Capital Cakra Ventures, Global Founders Capital, and a number of angel investors.
Fresh funds will be focused on developing products, increasing the penetration and utilization of Honest Token (HNST), and strengthening the team. As is well known, NOBI aims to help investors diversify assets into cryptocurrencies and help people with limited time to manage assets with easy access.
Reached 1 trillion Rupiah crypto transactions
The startup was founded by Lawrence Samantha (CEO), Edy Senjaya (CTO), and Dionisius Evan Alam (CPO). NOBI’s main services consist of Staking, Savings and Trading Strategy, enabling users to enjoy attractive returns from Bitcoin, Ethereum and other leading crypto assets.
“This is an important milestone for us. AC Ventures and our other investors provide an unrivaled immersive experience in fintech, investing and crypto. This investment round demonstrates their trust and commitment to what we can do to make a difference to unify the crypto space and finances,” Lawrence said.
Since 2018, NOBI has managed over 1 trillion Rupiah worth of crypto assets. All independent services are claimed to grow by 15x along with a significant increase in users in the last 6 months.
“In line with the current global trends, the demand for crypto assets in Indonesia is growing rapidly. Domestic trading volume has increased by more than 10x to exceed $60 billion by 2021 through more than 11 million user accounts. NOBI provides investors with various services that allow your users to earn interest. The user-friendly and intuitive NOBI platform makes it easy to start investing in cryptocurrencies,” AC Ventures’ Founder & Managing Partner, Michael Soerijadji said.
Crypto enthusiasts are rising
According to BAPPEPTI, in its role as Indonesia’s regulator that handles crypto assets, the number of crypto investors in the country is growing 2x faster than other instruments such as stocks in 2021, reaching 11.2 million. This is impressive, as this growth occurred amidst the highly fluctuative price of crypto.
Throughout 2021, the value of crypto asset transactions in Indonesia has reached $61.4 billion or more than 859 trillion Rupiah, an increase of more than 1222% compared to the previous year.
The rapid adoption of crypto exists amidst the growing trend of wealthtech platforms. This is supposed to increase financial inclusion and literacy, encouraging people to start realizing the essential of investing.
Even though the number is quite small, some local platforms are developing applications to facilitate people to invest in crypto, for example INDODAX, Tokocrypto, Pintu, and Pluang. It is even more intriguing as the trend of other blockchain products is starting to rise, along with the growing interest in Indonesia, NFT for example, it runs on top of the blockchain technology and involves crypto assets for its transactions.
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Original article is in Indonesian, translated by Kristin Siagian
