Debt relief isn't enough. Indonesia's Amalan wants to prevent bad debt now

Indonesian debt-management platform Amalan has acquired two startups with the aim of improving financial literacy in Southeast Asia. For seven years, Amalan helped clients restructure debt. Now, it wants to prevent people from getting into bad debt in the first place

Amalan helps people restructure their loans. During the pandemic, the startup struggled to survive

Few people could repay loans; and loan moratoriums meant that, in some cases, they didn’t have to

With some creativity, Amalan managed to survive. It plans to move forward with a more complete range of services

After acquiring comparison site Cekaja and edtech Praxis, “Amalan 2.0” sees itself as a guide for all parts of financial decision-making

Amalan, a seven-year-old Indonesian debt-management platform, has acquired two other companies in the financial services sector, The Ken has learnt. The two companies are Cekaja, a financial comparison service, and Praxis, a developer of educational games that teach financial literacy.

The acquisitions were cash-and-shares deals, Amalan CEO Arne Hartmann told The Ken, adding that it made sense because each company was at an inflection point in its life cycle. He declined to share further details like the size of the deals.

Despite being from the same sector, this is still an unusual mash-up of three Southeast Asian startups.

AUTHOR

Nadine Freischlad

Nadine is based in Indonesia. She covers Southeast Asia's super apps, the changing nature of work and employment, and other structural shifts happening as a result of digital disruption.

View Full Profile

Others tell you what. We tell you the ‘So What?’

Read articles that decode the most significant shifts happening around business, technology, startups and healthcare. 1000+ articles for subscribers of the India edition. 150+ articles for subscribers of the Southeast Asia edition. Plus premium newsletters that help you make sense of the world around you.

So much journalism in India is superficial.

Articles are generic, almost cookie-cutter in their approach. And they don’t provide enough context on the issues they cover. The Ken is different. I don’t always agree with everything they say but I appreciate their commitment to publishing deeply reported narratives and investigations. Their reporters find new ways to analyze tech among other industries. And that’s always worth a read.

Sid Talwar / Co-Founder and Partner / Lightbox Venture Capital

As entrepreneurs, we thrive on being in the know at all times.

A personal subscription to The Ken was a no brainer. But as startup founders, this isn't enough. Team members also need to be in the know, for everyone handles customer-facing responsibilities and an ecosystem change that impacts customers also impacts us

Kiran Jonnalagadda / Co-founder / HasGeek and Internet Freedom Foundation