Sigit Kouwagam had already built one investing app before he built the one that made his name. He was a co-founder of Stockbit, the community and trading platform for Indonesian stock investors, alongside Wellson Lo and Johny Susanto. Their stated motive was simple. Too few Indonesians understood investing, and a social network of people sharing market views looked like a way in.
But stocks are intimidating. Open any brokerage app and you face tickers, candlestick charts and the risk of losing money on a bad guess. In early 2019, the Stockbit team launched Bibit, a mutual fund app that did the opposite. Instead of asking users to pick shares, it asked about their risk appetite and suggested funds, the robo-advisor model.
It is a tidy ladder, and it carries a risk that the founders have not publicly dwelt on.
Reports differ on whether Stockbit launched Bibit or acquired the original app that year, but Kouwagam ended up as Bibit's chief executive, which tells you how the company saw itself. It was a product built by people who had already learned, through Stockbit, what first-time investors found confusing.
Investors noticed fast. In January 2021 Sequoia Capital India led a roughly US$30 million round. By May 2021, about US$65 million, again led by Sequoia India, brought Prosus Ventures, Tencent, Harvard Management Company, AC Ventures and East Ventures to the table. In May 2022, Singapore's GIC led a round of more than US$80 million, with Prosus and existing backers joining. Kouwagam told TechCrunch that earlier funding had taken total backing to US$45 million before that round, and the new money was meant for products, technology and hiring.
It is a tidy ladder, and it carries a risk that the founders have not publicly dwelt on. Robo-advisors earn on fees and assets under management. When markets fall, small savers tend to pause, and rivals such as Ajaib and Stockbit's own brokerage products compete for the same wallet. The company said its fresh capital would go partly to investor education.
The lesson is in the sequence. Kouwagam did not start with a clean idea of what investing should look like. He started with a community, noticed where beginners stalled, and then built a second product just for them. Founders often look for a new market. Sometimes the market is the people already asking you the same question.