SC Ventures, Standard Chartered’s innovation and fintech investment arm, has launched Labamu, an invoicing and billing platform, aimed at accelerating the growth of small businesses across Asia-Pacific, starting with Indonesia.

Small and medium-scale enterprises ( SMEs ) across six Southeast Asian markets represent 90% of all companies and 80% of all employment with market size of US$2.5 trillion.

Labamu seeks to help APAC SMEs increase their sales through both physical and digital marketplaces; boost their operational efficiency by offering digital billing, catalogue, stock and material management, plus customer relationship management and reporting; and offer them seamless access to financial services such as embedded banking and operating account, and later procurement and working capital financing.

“Labamu believes that every small business contributes to shared economic prosperity and we want to empower them. The platform stands out because we seamlessly integrate financial services into our platform. Merchants using Labamu can get invoice and bill payments directly deposited to their bank accounts,” says chief executive officer Emmanuel Van De Geer.  

Labamu says the platform is also a strong supporter of female entrepreneurs. Through its Wanita Tumbuh Bersama campaign, which actively promotes female empowerment in the SME sector, Labamu trained over 7,500 business owners in essential business management practices.

Kartini, the owner of Warung Al-Matiinu, is one of the women supported by the Wanita Tumbuh Bersama campaign, according to Labamu. Her enterprise sells traditional snacks consumed by Betawi people, an indigenous group native to Jakarta, Indonesia.

Prior to attending Labamu’s workshop, Kartini’s traditional Betawi snack sales were limited to Indonesia. The Labamu campaign offered practical training and expert guidance, including sessions by Silvia Winsen, vice president of business development at PT Labamu Sejahtera Indonesia, who shared strategies for SMEs to meet export standards.

“After participating in the workshop, we are now exporting our products to Singapore. Our snacks are being recognized in Singapore, and demand from consumers there has been encouraging,” says Kartini. “One of our standout products, tingting jahe wijen, has become a favourite in Singapore due to its warming properties and health benefits.” 

“SMEs are still suffering from lack of access. During incubation we could already see Labamu’s potential – the platform earned the trust of over 80,000 small business owners. We congratulate Labamu on their launch as they embark on their journey to empower SMEs,” says SC Ventures CEO Alex Manson.