Xendit started with a frustration over the slow money transfers in Asia, quickly evolving into one of the region’s top fintech companies, valued at over a billion dollars.
In the mid-2000s, Musa Low, a Malaysian-Indonesian, was studying at the University of New South Wales before transferring to the University of California, Berkeley for his graduate studies in business administration. While overseas, he noticed a simple yet frustrating issue: sending money between Australia and Indonesia, or even within Southeast Asia, was complicated and expensive.
A friend of his had to juggle multiple jobs just to send small amounts to his family in Indonesia, and the high fees and long wait times made things worse. This sparked Musa’s idea. He realized that the problem was not just technological; it was also about the lack of a reliable financial system to move money in the area.
During this time, he met Tissa Wijaya, who had studied in the US and Australia and had experience in investment banking and financial regulation. She shared his passion for leveraging technology to address payment challenges. Eventually, Bo Chen and Juan Gonzalez joined them, forming the core team of Xendit—a company aiming to make online money transfers in Asia as easy as calling a single API.
From a Simple App to a Massive Platform
Xendit launched in 2015 as a peer-to-peer (P2P) money transfer app in Indonesia, allowing users to top up their balances and send money to friends using phone numbers. The early days were humble, but they highlighted an important point: people want simple and secure solutions. The issue is not a lack of desire; it stems from trust and the need for system integration.
In the summer of 2015, the company joined the Y Combinator accelerator program, becoming the first Indonesian company to graduate. This experience provided vital knowledge and funding that propelled Xendit from the beginning.
However, after two years, the founders recognized that a single app would not suffice for growth. They decided to pivot to a business-to-business (B2B) payments platform that offered solutions for payment acceptance, transfer management, fraud prevention, and integration with banks and e-wallets. This shift marked a crucial turning point, transforming Xendit from its initial launch into a completely different company.
Scaling and Maturation: From Startup to Unicorn
By 2017, the company had found its place in the market. Businesses and digital stores began adopting its services for their easy integration, variety of payment options, and quicker processing times compared to traditional systems.
As market confidence increased, funding rounds followed:
In March 2021, Xendit raised around $64.6 million, led by Accel.
In September 2021, it secured $150 million in a round led by Tiger Global, pushing it to unicorn status with a valuation above $1 billion. By May 2022, Xendit raised another $300 million in a funding round led by Coatue and Insight Partners, bringing its total funding to about $538 million.
These funds allowed the company to expand into the Philippines, Malaysia, and Thailand, build local teams, develop compliance and fraud prevention systems, and improve its technical infrastructure to manage millions of transactions each month.
Today, Xendit processes over $15 billion in financial transactions annually, serving thousands of businesses and platforms through its integrated APIs.
Company Culture and Leadership
Musa Low is recognized as the strategic mind behind the company’s vision. He focused initially on Indonesia before expanding regionally, ensuring strict adherence to local licensing requirements to build trust with users.
Tissa Wijaya, the Chief Operating Officer, has played a key role in managing the company’s regulatory and financial governance, fostering a flexible and disciplined corporate culture, and becoming one of the leading women in the Asian fintech sector.
Meanwhile, Bo Chen led the technical infrastructure, ensuring that the application programming interfaces (APIs) remained secure and efficient, while Juan Gonzalez worked on user experience and platform stability. This blend of financial, technical, and managerial skills contributed significantly to the company’s success and sustainability.
From a Local Idea to a Regional Model
Xendit’s success is not just about being a payments company. It also represents a genuine Asian model in the fintech sector. It does not merely replicate Western frameworks; it addresses real-world issues within a complex financial and regulatory landscape.
By combining innovative technologies with a deep understanding of local cultures, Xendit has shown that fintech innovation can emerge from the Global South, transforming the financial services landscape in Asia.
