Japan’s SBI Takes 20% Stake in Jakarta-Based Ajaib to Deepen Digital Finance Push

Japan’s SBI Holdings is deploying $270 Mn for a 20% stake in Indonesian investment platform Ajaib. The transaction gives the financial group a sizeable foothold in Southeast Asia’s largest economy as it builds out a network linking traditional finance with digital assets.

The deal implies a post-money valuation of about $1.35 Bn for Ajaib, a figure Forbes derived from the investment size and the equity stake. Neither company disclosed a valuation. Bloomberg reported that Ajaib closed the round at a higher valuation than before without specifying the figure.

SBI said the investment makes the Jakarta-based company an equity-method affiliate, while Ajaib termed it a Series C round, bringing its total funding to more than $500 Mn.

Under the equity method, SBI will recognise its share of Ajaib’s profit or loss in its own earnings without consolidating the Indonesian company’s individual revenues, assets or liabilities. The accounting framework reflects significant influence without corporate control.

The deal marks a return to large-scale fundraising for Ajaib after a $153 Mn Series B in October 2021 minted its unicorn status. But the bigger change since then is the ecosystem SBI is buying into.

Ajaib began as a mutual-fund investment platform, aiming to lower barriers to entry for young Indonesians. It added stock and ETF trading in mid-2020 after acquiring licensed brokerage Primasia Sekuritas. It has since expanded into a multi-asset platform spanning Indonesian and overseas equities, bonds, mutual funds and ETFs alongside crypto assets, stablecoins, commodities and foreign exchange.

SBI says that Ajaib also provides payments, deposit services and over-the-counter stablecoin settlement for corporate and institutional customers.

Forbes reports that Ajaib’s user base now exceeds seven million. Co-founder and CEO Anderson Sumarli told the media house that customers who began by buying individual shares have increasingly moved towards global stocks, crypto and stablecoins.

That evolution helps explain why SBI is taking a sizeable strategic stake.

The Japanese group has placed Ajaib within the strategic logic of what it calls the SBI APAC Digital Economic Zone, its initiative to construct next-generation financial infrastructure across the region. SBI says it is developing a digital-asset exchange network centred on Southeast Asia, and chairman and president Yoshitaka Kitao singled out Ajaib’s capacity to handle traditional financial products and digital assets on a unified platform as a core strategic fit.

Ajaib, therefore, delivers something distinct from the backend infrastructure SBI has been assembling elsewhere: an established, consumer-facing gateway to Indonesian retail investors.

Indonesia Adds Scale to SBI’s Strategy

The deal’s timing also matters. Indonesia recorded 30.06 million single investor identifications (SIDs) at the end of July, a 47.63% rise from the end of 2025, according to Otoritas Jasa Keuangan (OJK), the Financial Services Authority.

Approximately 1.1 million SIDs were added in July alone.

That rapid expansion significantly widens the addressable market for platforms distributing investment products digitally. Ajaib already straddles two critical segments of that market—conventional securities and digital assets.

For SBI, this positioning moves the group much closer to the end investor than many of its other recent capital deployments.

Much of SBI’s 2026 dealmaking has targeted the fundamental infrastructure of tokenised finance. In March, Singapore-based Startale Group closed a $63 Mn Series A that included a $50 Mn investment from SBI. Their broader relationship includes Strium, a joint venture developing a Layer 1 network for tokenised equities and real-world-asset-linked instruments, featuring 24/7 spot and derivatives trading alongside settlement.

The companies are also backing JPYSC, a yen-denominated stablecoin whose limited rollout began through SBI VC Trade in June, with the token confined to accounts on that platform pending clarity on legal and tax treatment. SBI envisions the asset eventually servicing high-value transfers and settlement involving tokenised assets, subject to regulatory and tax frameworks governing wider public-blockchain circulation.

SBI has been simultaneously developing the asset side of that ecosystem. In July, SBI Global Asset Management and Singapore-regulated DigiFT launched the JX token, granting accredited and institutional investors on-chain access to a Japanese high-dividend equity strategy.

A partnership announced a day later with Ondo Finance extended this runway. The two entities plan to bring Japanese equities on-chain, distribute Ondo tokenised products through the SBI ecosystem and adopt JPYSC for on-chain settlement and collateral. Ondo Global Markets (BVI) Ltd will issue these tokenised instruments.

SBI is also adding regulated platforms in Southeast Asia. In July, it acquired a majority stake in Singapore crypto platform Coinhako, making it a consolidated subsidiary.

Four days before the Ajaib transaction, stablecoin-focussed platform Fasset announced a $68 Mn Series C led by SBI at a $1 Bn valuation. SBI intends to scale its holding through warrants to transition Fasset into an equity-method affiliate and also plans to operate a digital bank jointly in Malaysia. The two have also signed an MoU to develop next-generation cross-border remittance infrastructure.

These individual moving pieces should not be mistaken for a fully integrated regional financial system just yet. They sit across distinct companies, jurisdictions and regulatory regimes, and SBI has not said they will all eventually connect.

However, the direction of capital is increasingly coherent.

Startale and Strium grant SBI exposure to tokenised market infrastructure. JPYSC adds a potential settlement asset. DigiFT and Ondo extend traditional assets on-chain. Coinhako strengthens its regulated digital-asset presence in Singapore, while Fasset secures stablecoin infrastructure and a future banking foothold in Malaysia.

Ajaib brings Indonesia and millions of existing investors directly into that picture.

That does not mean Ajaib will distribute JPYSC, Strium-based products or SBI’s tokenised investments. Neither company has announced such integrations and Indonesia’s regulatory framework will ultimately dictate what products can be legally brought to market.

What SBI has purchased instead is a strategic option.

Digital financial infrastructure requires more than raw tech. Tokenised securities demand active investors, settlement assets require transactional ecosystems and cross-border networks require regulated gateways to interface with customers.

For Ajaib, the $270 Mn financing lifts its implied valuation above the $1 Bn threshold established during the 2021 tech boom and secures a heavyweight strategic shareholder across banking, securities and digital ecosystems.

For SBI, the 20% stake adds a consumer-facing layer. After spending much of 2026 building positions across the digital finance infrastructure, it now holds a significant stake in an Indonesian platform sitting directly in front of the retail investor.

The wager is no longer just about building new financial rails. It is about finding the platforms, markets and customers that can put them to use.