The problem
Indonesia’s commerce ran on cash across a vast archipelago, and Bank Indonesia issued only a handful of e-money licences — so no single wallet was accepted across malls, ride-hailing and online checkout, leaving merchants and riders juggling fragmented payment methods.
How it works
OVO was founded in 2017 by PT Visionet International, a Lippo Group subsidiary, as a cashless layer across Lippo’s malls, cinemas and hospitals around Karawaci. In 2018 Grab and Tokopedia both invested, making OVO Grab’s default Indonesian wallet and Tokopedia’s embedded checkout method simultaneously. When Gojek and Tokopedia merged into GoTo in 2021, Tokopedia had to divest its OVO stake and Grab bought out both Tokopedia and Lippo to reach 90% ownership (Bloomberg, October 2021). OVO now clears every Grab transaction in Indonesia and layers Bareksa mutual funds, Taralite lending, Prudential insurance and Superbank savings on top.
Pain points
Cash-only warungs and street vendors with no acceptance terminal, idle wallet balances earning nothing, gig drivers unable to borrow except informally, and small merchants with no path to insurance or investment products.
Business model
A 0.7–1.5% take on merchant QR payments plus transfer and bill-pay interchange, economics from distributed funds, loans, insurance and savings products, and interest on pooled customer balances — with standalone figures consolidated into Grab’s results.
Challenges
E-commerce checkout — where wallet habits form — now routes to GoPay inside Tokopedia; Bank Indonesia’s QRIS standard lets any merchant accept every wallet, erasing acceptance as a moat; and OVO depends on Grab’s local share plus Bareksa, Taralite, Prudential and Superbank to deliver the financial products on its shelf.
Funding
- Raised: backed by Lippo Group from launch with Grab and Tokopedia investing in 2018; Grab bought out Tokopedia and Lippo stakes to reach 90% in October 2021 (no standalone raise disclosed).
- Valuation: no citable standalone valuation — reports through Grab’s consolidated results.
Latest — July 2026
Superbank posted IDR 234 billion in H1 2026 pre-tax profit (+669% YoY) with 7 million customers and a IDR 13.4 trillion loan book, crediting integration with Grab and OVO — over 60% of its customers are Grab or OVO users and its Pinjaman Atur Sendiri loans are embedded directly in both apps.