Digital signature platform PrivyID banks on digital signature

INDONESIAN online digital signature provider PrivyID works with peer to peer (P2P) lending platform Amartha, introducing digital signatures to unbanked communities in remote areas.

By using digital signatures, Amartha can reduce paper use, cut document processing time and improve efficiency without sacrificing the Know Your Customer (KYC) process.

Amartha vice president Aria Widyanto says, “Amartha has agents in 108 locations in remote areas with an average of 20,000 new contracts per month. Using PrivyID digital signatures will help us reduce paperwork. The data will also be integrated in real-time, increasing efficiency, and transparency. It also helps our field agents to focus on educating citizens. We also want digital signatures to prevent mal-administration and fraud.”

Aria explains that only 53% of Amartha borrowers own smartphones and feature phones. Through PrivyID, verification and processing can be done by a phone number or OTP.

“Now, we are riding the digital transformation wave which will lead our borrowers to convert to using smartphones, at least half of them are digitalised.”

PrivyID has also helped fintech P2P lender AwanTunai reach the unbanked.  According to AwanTunai, after using the PrivyID digital signature, document processing accelerated from two days to two hours. AwanTunai was also able to process five times more credit submission documents, going from 100 to 500 documents daily.

Founded in 2016, PrivyID is a digital signature platform provider with a mission to bring technology that provides a single identity that is universally integrated in the digital world to its users.

PrivyID co-founder Guritno Adi Saputro explains that there are two types of digital signature, namely, non-certified electronic signatures (signatures on iPad, paper, click agree and tick button), and certified electronic signatures (using the digital signature method). To establish a digital certificate from publishers, data such as a phone number, identification card, and picture are needed.

“PrivyID provides private key and public key. The private key has to be saved to each profile, and the public key is saved to hardware. When signing a digital document, a private key and digital certificate are necessary.

“As an example, in a PDF document, a signature will be used, the results are encrypted with a private key and embedded with the user’s digital certificate. When verified, it will signify who signed the document.”

To access the private key, users must at least use two-factor authentication. They have to log in to PrivyID with email and password, and SMS or OTP (can be replaced with biometrics or a fingerprint).Then, users will be able to register their digital signature by drawing or using default font text on the platform.

The company is able to integrate the API to merchants and 90% of its customers are from the B2B segment which pay subscriptions starting from 50,000 rupiah (US$3.5) per month. The B2C segment pays 3,500 rupiah (US$0.24) per document.

“We focus on the B2B segment because they need the service as it will help them to cut paper cost and shorten the document signing process.”

To date, PrivyID has reached 2.1 million users, with an average of 10,000 daily and 179,000 monthly documents digitally signed via the PrivyID platform. It serves more than 100 corporates including Telkom Indonesia, CIMB Niaga, Bank Mandiri, Bussan Auto Finance, Kredit Plus, Adira Finance and Bank BRI as well as startups and small and medium scale companies such as AwanTunai, Klik Acc, Kerjasama.com, ITX and Sewa Kamera.

Guritno says that the business potential of the company increases 90% per month due to support from the Indonesian Ministry of Communication and Information, and the Indonesian Financial Services Authority (OJK)’s mission to improve the quality of the fintech industry by requiring the use of digital signatures in accordance with the laws and regulations in Indonesia. This digital signature must be used in ratifying agreements between the organiser, the giver, and the recipient of a loan.

He admits that the company is facing challenges in educating the community in using digital signatures as they prefer to sign on paper or use other manual methods.

PrivyID now is in the process of raising Series A funding with a target of US$5 million. It still needs US$1.9 million. Guritno said that Mandiri Capital and MDI Ventures have participated.

PrivyID is the only private digital signature provider that has fulfilled the requirements set by Indonesian ITE Law, PP No. 82 of 2012 concerning the Implementation of Systems and Electronic Transactions, as well as Indonesian Ministry of Communication and Information Regulations No. 11 of 2018 concerning the Implementation of Electronic Certification. And it is also the first Indonesian startup to have an ISO / IEC 27001: 2013 standard information security certification.