Digitise invoicing methods with Paper.id

• Claims to be the first online invoicing platform in Indonesia
• Offers free invoicing and accounting systems

IN A fast developing country like Indonesia, there are still many Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) that ignore prudent financial management. This is the result of the old tradition of using pen and paper to invoice their customers that involves lots of paperwork and is very time consuming to track and reconcile.

As a consequence, many SMEs lose track of their cash flow and risk failing. Paper.id is trying to solve this problem by providing the first invoicing platform that is integrated with payment and financial reports in Indonesia.

Started by Jeremy Limman and Yosia Sugialam, Paper.id aims to help SMEs manage their order-to-pay processes and generate reports instantly.

“Micro SMEs in Indonesia are still using traditional methods such as pen and paper or Microsoft Excel to generate invoices. We want to replace those and in this digital era, SMEs need to be educated to understand their cash flow and business performance with a system that is easy to use,” says Paper.id chief executive officer Jeremy Limman.

Paper.id allows users to create an electronic invoice through a desktop and mobile app. It also offers free invoicing and accounting tools.

“We are providing our services for free to small and micro SMEs who have difficulties in investing or buying systems. “

Users will be charged from 50,000 rupiah (per month) to 500,000 rupiah (per year) if they want to upgrade to premium which allows more users and devices to access an account.

Complete with a reminder system, Paper.id users will not miss payments or lose track of their receivables.

Paper.id also integrates various payment methods with automated reconciliations such as bank transfers and virtual accounts. It is currently working on a collaboration with Bank Negara Indonesia’s (BNI) payment gateway, ‘Yap!’, which will be officially on board in the second quarter of this year.

“With the presence of ‘Yap!’ in Paper.id, we provide a new invoice payment method that is both fast and simple. Every invoice that is sent by Paper.id will include a QR Code that customers can directly pay with using the ‘Yap!’ application,” explains Business Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI) assistant vice president internet banking and e-commerce Idi Priadi Wibawa.

Paper.id currently has over 5,000 users mainly from the distribution, retail, and services industries across Java, Sumatra, Kalimantan, and Sulawesi. It has generated more than 30,000 invoices, and seen 658% growth since last year.

To maintain the business, Jeremy says, “We optimise our customer base through online and offline marketing initiatives and collaborations with the community and banks.”

Mainly providing free services for its users, Paper.id chief technology officer Yosia Sugialam tells Digital News Asia that his company generates revenue from a certain tier of users who pay for the systems, and collaborating with several payment gateways.

Claiming to be the first online invoicing platform in Indonesia, Jeremy explains, “People always compare us with other platforms that are similar to us which also provide accounting systems. But to us, our direct competitors are traditional pen and papers invoicing methods.”

Started in 2016 and launched in August 2017, Paper.id received an undisclosed amount of seed funding from Golden Gate Ventures. The funds will be use to boost development, operations and marketing.

“Paper.id positions itself as a platform to remove obstacles for SMEs in managing their finances so they can really focus on the most important thing; that is to serve their customers and grow their business. Investing at seed stage in Paper.id is a unique opportunity for us in aiding the development of SMEs in Indonesia,” says Golden Gate Ventures Business Development, Indonesia Dea Surjadi.

Yosia also says that Paper.id is targeting 100,000 users by the end of 2019 and aims to be able to provide loans for SMEs as well as invoicing tools.

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