YUP

YUP is an Indonesian fintech company that issues digital credit cards and operates an e-wallet for the country's unbanked and underbanked population. Founded by Zhang Dong (张栋), who spent two weeks diligencing Brazil's Nubank in 2016 before deciding to build something analogous for Southeast Asia , YUP has raised $70 million historically and reached millions of users within four years while maintaining low delinquency rates . The company holds Indonesia's highest-tier e-money license—obtained after nearly two years of effort as regulators largely stopped issuing new ones from 2020 onward—and is the only Indonesian fintech with a Visa partnership, allowing its cards to work across the country's full merchant network and all e-commerce platforms .

YUP's core insight, as 暗涌Waves framed it, is converting Southeast Asians' "fragmented data footprints" into credit assets . The team blends Chinese fintech knowhow with hyper-local product design: credit limits informed by WhatsApp group activity for small merchants, dynamic agricultural loans tied to flood warnings, and a Ramadan donation feature with logistics visualization . User engagement is striking—monthly active users approach 70%, with the average user opening the app more than 20 days per month . Zhang told 暗涌Waves that over 80% of users arrive through organic channels, drawn from YUP's presence in thousands of Indomaret convenience stores, KFC outlets, CGV cinemas, and roadside shops . The company aims to reach profitability in the second half of 2025 and eyes expansion to Vietnam, the Philippines, and Thailand, with a target of 50 million regional credit-card users within eight to ten years and a public listing in three to five years .