Muhammad Alfatih Timur was born in Bukittinggi. At 15 he studied alongside classmates two years older, and he went on to study economics at Universitas Indonesia, graduating in 2013.
After graduating he worked at Rumah Perubahan, a consultancy. There he met charity workers who found it hard to reach donors. He read about crowdfunding sites abroad and began building one with university friend Vikra Ijas.
Kitabisa went live in 2013. An early campaign raised Rp 160 million to save a street children's school in Depok from eviction. Campus promotion gained little traction, and Timur used leftover wedding money to improve the platform. Kitabisa later added a verification process with KYC to build trust. In 2015 it raised a seed round led by 500 Startups.
In 2020 Timur became an Endeavor Entrepreneur, and Kitabisa channelled over $10 million for COVID-19 relief. By January 2022 the platform had 936,720 users and Rp 376.95 billion in donations. It charges a 5% fee on most campaigns.