Donny Zhang Biography — Co-Founder and CEO of Finture, the Company Behind YUP (Indonesia)
Donny Zhang co-founded Finture in 2021 and now leads the company behind YUP, a digital banking and credit-payment platform operating across Southeast Asia.
YUP has been informally described as the region’s answer to Brazil’s Nubank because of its focus on digital financial services for consumers.
Zhang’s path into fintech began with management consulting at Accenture before he moved into venture capital and entrepreneurship.
He later served as Chief Risk Officer at Advance.ai and co-founded Atome, one of Southeast Asia’s leading buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) brands.
Those experiences gave Zhang close to a decade of regional fintech experience before he launched Finture.
YUP Raises $30 Million Series B
YUP recently closed a $30 million Series B, which the company describes as the largest equity fundraising for Southeast Asia’s fintech sector so far this year.
The new capital will be used for expansion across Southeast Asia and to support the company’s pursuit of a full banking licence in Indonesia.
Obtaining a full banking licence would allow YUP to operate as a digital bank rather than remaining limited to payments and credit services.
The company has already secured Indonesia’s E-Money payment licence, a lending licence and fintech innovation licences.
Building a Digital Banking Platform
Zhang has identified a specific gap in Southeast Asia’s rapidly expanding digital finance market.
Although the region’s digital payments volume reached nearly $959 billion in gross transaction value in 2023, Zhang argues that personal payment and credit solutions for individual consumers have not developed as quickly as business-to-business financial services.
YUP is designed to address that consumer side of the market through digital payments and credit products.
The company is also reportedly the only technology company in Indonesia with a strategic partnership with Visa, according to Zhang.
The Next Stage for YUP
The pursuit of a full banking licence represents an important part of YUP’s expansion strategy.
If approved, the licence could allow the company to broaden the financial services it provides and operate more like a full digital bank.
For Zhang, the opportunity is connected to Southeast Asia’s wider transition from traditional banking toward digital financial services.
With the new Series B funding, existing licences and plans to expand across the region, Finture is positioning YUP for another phase of growth in Southeast Asia’s increasingly competitive fintech market.
