TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Investree's CEO and co-founder Adrian Gunadi said the growth of the financial technology (fintech) industry is accelerating. As of February this year, the number of players has reached 106.

According to Adrian, every year the number of fintech business actors grow 15-20 percent on average. The Indonesian Fintech Funding Association (AFPI) noted that the total lenders have disbursed Rp27 trillion across Indonesia.

This year, Investree is aiming for a two-digit business growth. The company plans to expand to several countries in Southeast Asia. Tempomet and talked with Adrian after a media briefing in early May. Excerpts:

What is Investree's growth projection for this year?

We have a target of Rp2.5 trillion in 2019, which is twice of last year's Rp1.1 trillion.

After expanding to Thailand, Investree is planning to hit the Philippines?

Yes—this year? We are now live in Thailand; we have borrowers and we have disbursed fund. For the Philippines, we are studying and exploring [the market]. Hopefully we can finalize it this year and launch next year. This year, we focus on the finalization—such as who would be the joint partners, et cetera.

What do you think about the market potential in Southeast Asia?

The potential is still very large. Indonesia is not the only country experiencing problems to penetrate the market—providing loan access to the MSMSE segment. Neighboring countries—except Singapore—is also facing the same situations; for example Thailand and the Philippines. Other developing neighbors like Myanmar and Cambodia are also potential [markets]. We see that, in those nations, peer-to-peer (P2P) lending—or the fintechs business in general—can grow in under-banked areas.

The complete interview is available at Tempo's daily newspaper both on print and online at koran.tempo.co

LARISSA HUDA