As Indonesia was put on lockdown amid the pandemic, the archipelago ’s more than 530,000 schools temporarily closed down, affecting a total of 68 million students. The crisis underscored the importance of online learning, compelling many educational institutions and even teachers to embrace digital transformation fast.
An Indonesian startup called InfraDigital tried to help with the transition, offering digital payments and online student registration services for free. The company, which just raised an undisclosed amount of series A funding from Taiwan-based AppWorks, digitizes student data, automates back-office processes, and facilitates online tuition payments for schools.
It plans to use the new capital injection to develop more school management services. It also looks to expand across Indonesia and double down on provinces where it has the most traction, InfraDigital co-founder and CEO Ian McKenna told Tech in Asia.
What problem is it solving? According to InfraDigital, most schools in Indonesia still adhere to manual, paper-based processes. Cash is also still dominant.
“This can mean students queuing at the admin office at lunchtime or it can be teachers collecting funds directly from students,” McKenna observed, adding that it’s difficult to accurately assess a school’s financial situation.
Moreover, existing digital solutions are costly, especially for schools located in rural areas.
InfraDigital claims that its solutions have helped some schools increase their income by up to 16%.
One of its offerings, Jaringan IDN, makes student enrollment, invoicing, and payments collection easier for schools. Its partners include Gojek, Tokopedia, LinkAja, Alfamart, Ayopop, and Indomaret.
McKenna said they first sit down with a school to get accurate data before implementing a process. “We use the lessons learned from assisting hundreds of schools to digitize, including educating parents on how to pay remotely,” he added.
The company claims it’s the only payment network of its kind in the country. Although it indirectly competes with bank services and overlaps with some features of business-to-business edtech platforms, InfraDigital can find ways to partner with them since its services are niche.
What are its future plans? For now, the company is focusing on helping schools deal with the complexities of business closures during the lockdown.
“We’re currently focused on building the underlying technical infrastructure so that we can eventually layer more value-added services on top for all stakeholders involved including administrators, teachers, students, and parents,” said Indah Maryani, co-founder of InfraDigital.
Looking ahead, McKenna hopes a majority of schools will be able to implement digital solutions in the next two to three years.
“Longer term, our goal remains the same: to provide every school in Indonesia, regardless of resources, with solid digital and financial foundations. The industry is at an early stage and we have a lot of work to do, a lot of schools to reach.”
How much traction has it gotten? The company said it aims to reach every school in the archipelago, which has a little over 300,000 schools and around 50 million students.
InfraDigital is currently active in 12 provinces in Indonesia. Its platform is deployed in over 300 educational institutions, serving more than 140,000 students in tier-two cities as well as in rural areas.
In 2018, the startup reported a total transaction value of US$2.1 million. It declined to disclose current figures.
Reference: TechinAsia
