50 | FORBES INDONESIA AUGUST 2017
ENTREPRENEURS
Retail Lender
Abraham Viktor’s Taralite is helping fund online merchants.
BY IAN WILLIAMSA
braham Viktor would like
to democratize Indonesia’s
lending practices. “The im-
age of loans in Indonesia is
that it’s something for the elite,” says
Abraham, 24, co-founder of fintech site
Taralite. “For decades we’ve had banks
that are very exclusive. What we’re try-
ing to do is make our financial products
accessible. We use language that is easy
to understand and we distribute it in
the most viral way possible—online.”
Taralite makes loans to online
merchants, the SMEs selling over
sites such as Tokopedia and Lazada
(merchants on those two sites make
up 40% of its borrowers). These small
businesses online find it hard to get
funds from regular banks, which
mostly lend to larger corporate cli-
ents. In this vacuum, Abraham would
like to develop Taralite. (Some 1% of
Taralite’s loans go to individuals).
Tokopedia was the first site to work
with Taralite, but only after Tokopedia
tried a lending scheme with a tradition-
al bank. “It did a trial for two months,
and in that two months the approval
rate by the bank was only 0.5%,” Abra-
ham says. “The bank would reject them
because the client doesn’t have a physi-
cal store to visit. It’s an online business,
so of course there is no physical store.”
With Taralite, the approval rate is 33%,
according to Abraham.
Taralite can lend anywhere from
Rp 1 million to Rp 2 billion, up to a
maximum of one year—the average
sum lent is Rp 40 million, according
to Abraham. As one testimonial says
on the Taralite site for an unidentifiedTokopedia seller: “I am very satisfied
with the service of Taralite and highly
recommend Taralite to any online
merchants who want to expand their
businesses.” Taralite charges around
1% a month for its loan.
Taralite takes its own cut with a
provision fee of 1%, plus 0.5% to 5%
from the lender. Although Abraham
won’t discuss figures, he does say
Taralite will be profitable by year-end.
Taralite gets its leads from a referral
system generated by the sites them-
selves. Money for the loans comes
from Tifa Finance, a small listed lend-
er, and also from individuals.
To qualify applicants, the site
has a sophisticated algorithm that
captures more than 150 variables,
including earning power (applicants
must submit a slew of information).
If approved, Taralite emails the cli-
ent the loan contract. Abraham de-
clined to disclose the average number
of monthly loans, but he did say that
Taralite has issued loans numbering
in “single-digit thousands.” Taralite
claims NPLs of less than 0.1%, down
from 0.9% at the start of 2016.
Raised in Jakarta, Abraham has
already seen two of his startups fail.
While still a student at University of
Indonesia, he founded Kayafood, a
food distribution firm, and Ixacon, for
building materials, around 2012. “In
the beginning of 2013, I had to close
Ixacon. It was devastating.” Abraham
says. “I saw my friends who were al-
ready pursuing their high-profile man-
agement consulting and investment
banking jobs. I had to start from zero.”“THE IMAGE OF
LOANS IN INDO-
NESIA IS THAT IT’S
SOMETHING FOR
THE ELITE.”AHMAD ZAMRONI / FORBES INDONESIA