You might not realise this, but on 23 August 2017, a little known start-up named Pundi-Pundi with a plan to bring Alipay-style QR code payments to Indonesia raised US$4 million in their first round of Series A fund raising. Digital payments and mobile banking are not new concepts (pioneered by China’s Alipay 10 years ago) but as a way of selling and buying, QR code-payments through your smartphone is only mainstream in China. That said, Pundi-Pundi will now one-up Alipay with a brave new venture: Pundi X, a blockchain startup that aims to make cryptocurrencies an enabler of ubiquitous cashless payment environments across South East Asia.
Indonesia has Alipay QR-code Style Payments, Now Pundi X will offer seamless cryptocurrency payments in that market
The fast growing and investor-attractive Pundi-Pundi is a mobile payments and micro-loan startup banking on the blue ocean market of cashless environments in Southeast Asia. The US$4 million warchest fueled the company’s growth in its native Jakarta as well as position it to be a market leader in Indonesia, one of the biggest economies in the region. By launching Pundi X, a blockchain startup, the company is also expected to be the market leader for cashless payments using cryptocurrencies in Southeast Asia.
“Wallet” in Bahasa Pundi-Pundi had raised an angel round of capital investments in January 2017 to the tune of US$2 million followed by US$4 million in Series A fund raising. On 28 October 2017, cryptocurrency spin-off Pundi X raised fiat US$4 million through a pre-sale Initial Coin Offering garnering a total of 3,148 Ethereum (ETH), 613 Bitcoin (BTC) and 250,040 XEM .
That said, considering less than 30% of the population in Indonesia owning a debit card, but with the country on track to have 53% of its population to own smartphones in 2017, Pundi-Pundi has a definite business opportunity offering the ability to pay by scanning a QR code via a smartphone app. However, with Pundi X and a relatively blockchain tech ignorant population, they would be facing a slightly tougher challenge.
The conversion rate currently stands 1 ETH: 500 PXS. Renowned angel investors in the pre-sale ICO include David Lee Kuo Chuen, a Professor of Quantitative Finance and is an investor of ZCash, Qtum, TenX, InfoCorp and OmiseGo; and Lon Wong. the President of NEM.io Foundation (XEM coins are the 7th largest according the Coinmarketcap) and CEO of Dragonfly Fintech.
Pundi X aims to solve the last mile challenge for cryptocurrency purchases and sales. The company’s business builds on the existing Pundi-Pundi business model of cashless payment systems, which enables smartphone users to scan QR codes and makes instant payments in retail and restaurant outlets. Pundi-Pundi has already signed up more than 100,000 registered users and over 500 merchant partners in Jakarta in less than a year of operation.
Funds raised by the sale of PXS Tokens during the ICO period will be used to purchase Pundi X POS devices that will be installed in retail outlets enabling consumers to quickly and easily buy or sell cryptocurrency using fiat money (Dollars, Rupiah, Baht, etc.), bank card, mobile wallet or Pundi X Pass. Use of cryptocurrency to pay for utilities and other services will be subject to domestic regulations of each market.
The full public Initial Coin Offering (ICO) will commence on November 20, 2017. The target for this ICO is to raise 280,000 ETH which will help fund up to 700,000 Pundi X POS devices (approximately US$ 300 each with about US$ 30 million spent rolling out the first 100,000 devices. The remaining 600,000 devices will also be funded by sales proceeds from tokens and revenue from participating B2B merchants) to be installed over a three-year period in Indonesia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam and other Asian markets. The pre-ICO cap for the Pundi X ICO is 5% or 14,000 ETH from a total ICO hard cap of 280,000 ETH.
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