The company was formed in 2007 in response to Bali’s need to attract international tourists after the terror attacks in 2005⁵ sparked a sharp decline in tourism. Alison Jap, DOKU’s Chief International Partnerships Officer, who joined five years later, explains, “The three DOKU founders happened to be working together on a tourism portal for Bali to reintroduce it as a safe holiday destination and found that there was no way for customers to book hotels and attractions.” Discussions with local banks revealed that online payments were still a largely unchartered territory back then. The trio identified the opportunity to set up a new company for online payments to serve businesses who need to collect payments from their customers in Indonesia. But starting-up was tough and meant knocking on many doors. As the pioneer in this industry, DOKU had to work very closely with the banks to mitigate fraud and ensure that the security processes are in place.

However, timing is everything. DOKU’s first big break came when Indonesia’s national carrier Garuda wanted to explore selling tickets online directly to customers and DOKU’s early win of Garuda as its first payment service provider (PSP) client “opened lots of doors” and, Jap adds, helped the team gain critical support from banks and other partners. Initially established and registered as PT Nusa Satu Inti Artha, DOKU was the first Indonesian company to earn the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS) Level 1 version 3.2 certification.

The company now provides a suite of online and offline payment solutions, and most local payment methods, serving more than 150,000 merchants across many industries via payment gateway and transfer services that enable QR, e-commerce, e-Marketplace, e-wallet, super app, and card payments. DOKU is also responsible for AML and KYC obligations from its payments licence from Bank Indonesia. The company services domestic e-wallet and e-commerce platforms, global PSPs as well as domestic and global merchants.

“Anything touching financial services – the trust, reputation, and integrity is so important”
Alison Jap, Chief International Partnership Officer, DOKU

Back in 2007, the team had to build from scratch everything needed to operate up. There was virtually no start-up scene in Indonesia and little infrastructure; “not a unicorn in sight in Indonesia,” recalls Jap. The country’s archipelago structure was not conducive to e-commerce business because the logistic infrastructure was still being built at the time, she explains. “The first 20 companies we had were all ones that did not need shipping. They were not selling physical goods online, so they were airlines, insurance companies etcetera.” However, the need for technology to be built in house with local engineers became part of DOKU’s unique selling point to its partners. “Anything touching financial services – the trust, reputation, and integrity is so important. We work with some of the largest Indonesian and international banks, and they know our risk mitigation and controls are very good. We are also known as the pioneers in this industry in Indonesia and that shows our strong track record and corporate governance,” says Jap.