How Akulaku Scaled to Become Indonesia’s Leading Digital Lender
From E-commerce Roots to Fintech Leader
Akulaku began in 2016 as an e-commerce platform offering customers the ability to purchase goods on installments. In a market where fewer than 3% of Indonesians had access to credit cards, this innovation quickly resonated. Akulaku wasn’t just helping people shop — it was pioneering digital lending in one of the world’s largest underbanked markets.
Over time, Akulaku evolved from a single-product fintech into a licensed multi-finance lender, as well as Asetku, its P2P lending arm. Today, Akulaku disburses billions of dollars in loans annually across Indonesia and Southeast Asia, backed by strategic investors such as Ant Group, Siam Commercial Bank, and MUFG.
Credit Innovation as a Growth Driver
What set Akulaku apart was not just product-market fit, but the way it used data and modelling to safely expand access to credit:
Alternative Data Sources: Akulaku leveraged mobile, e-commerce, and transaction data to assess risk where traditional credit bureaus had no visibility.
Dynamic Credit Limits: Customers started small; those who proved reliable were given higher limits, creating a self-reinforcing model of trust.
Iterative Learning: Models were continuously refined across multiple markets, giving Akulaku insights into diverse borrower behaviour.
Governance and Portfolio Monitoring
Equally critical was Akulaku’s investment in strong governance structures and monitoring tools:
Credit Committees aligned executives, risk managers, and business units on lending strategy.
Portfolio Dashboards provided real-time visibility into repayment, delinquency, and risk trends.
Pilot-first Approach: New products were trialed with small cohorts, refined, and only then scaled.
The Revenue Payoff
By 2023, Akulaku’s loan disbursements exceeded USD 4.5 billion, making it one of Southeast Asia’s largest consumer fintech lenders. Its success shows the commercial upside when data-driven lending is paired with disciplined risk governance.
How Factfin Helps Replicate the Akulaku Effect
Akulaku’s journey is inspiring, but replicating it requires more than ambition — it requires the right data, the right modelling, and the right governance.
That’s where Factfin’s AI-Innovation Lab comes in.
We bring financial institutions, fintechs, and platforms into a structured environment to safely explore and implement lending innovations. Through the AI-Innovation Lab, Factfin, and our data science partner Kadre help organisations:
Audit and structure their data to identify credit opportunities.
Build transparent, AI-enhanced credit models tailored to local markets.
Design governance frameworks that keep risk, business development, and executive leadership aligned.
Deploy portfolio monitoring tools that give real-time insights into repayment performance, losses, and customer behaviour.
Iteratively test and refine pilots before scaling, reducing risk and building investor confidence.
Like Akulaku, platforms can start small, prove their model, and grow into scalable, profitable lenders — but with Factfin’s AI-Innovation Lab, they don’t need to reinvent the wheel.
Conclusion
Akulaku’s rise from startup to market leader demonstrates the power of combining innovative credit modelling with strong governance and monitoring. For fintechs, payroll platforms, and digital wallets, the lesson is clear: your data is the engine of lending success, but only if harnessed with discipline.
With Factfin’s AI-Innovation Lab, organisations can replicate this journey — unlocking new revenue streams, managing risk, and building the foundation for long-term growth.
