Gradana and Other Indonesian Startups Started to Challenge the Swiss Market

Four Indonesian startups including Khaira Energy, Botika, Svara Inovasi Indonesia, and Gradana are currently challenging the Swiss market. These startups are trying to expand their businesses and make networks in the country. They are doing so while looking for potential investors as well.

These startups previously passed the Asia Entrepreneurship Training Program (AETP) selection. This was a program pioneered by Zurich University of Applied Science (Zürich Hochschulen für Angewandte Wissenschaften) in Zürich, Switzerland. AETP itself is an exchange program between startups from Indonesia and Switzerland.

This program lets Indonesian startups to receive practical training from the organizers. They also got the opportunity to present their startup business model to larger companies and potential investors. The Indonesian Ambassador to Switzerland in Bern, Muliaman D Hadad, greatly appreciated this cooperation with Switzerland.

Muliaman hopes that cooperation can perk up Indonesia’s capacity to develop a great local startup ecosystem. “Please take this opportunity in Switzerland to build networking as much as possible and add experience,” Muliaman said to four Indonesian start-ups at the opening of the program.

The Startups Discussed Their Business with Potential Investors

The four startup CEOs or Founders including Ditto Anindito (Botika), Yulian Widodo (Khaira Energy), Angela Oetama (Gradana), and M Zhuhriansyah (Svara Inovasi Indonesia) started their exploration in Switzerland earlier this month. During the program, they got technical training and a chance to interact with Swiss startups.

In this case, they can interact with startups in incubators as well as Swiss startup associations. They also had a chance to meet and discuss with potential investors. Meanwhile, Swiss’ strategy to develop start-ups through cooperation between universities and private companies can also be adopted in Indonesia.

On this occasion, the four Indonesian startups also conducted business matching activities with various parties related to their respective business models. Botika, Gradana, Svara Inovasi Indonesia, and Khaira Energy themselves are the selected startups among many companies in Indonesia to join the program.

Previously, four Swiss startups have visited Jakarta to learn the Indonesian market further in last October. The four startups here are running in the health sector, advertising, air transportation, and chemical products. They have met with leading institutions in Indonesia during the program.

More about the Four Startups Participated in the Program

Gradana is one of the four startups to explore the Swiss market through the AETP program. According to Gradana co-founder, Angela Oetama, this event is a validation of Gradana’s presence as a platform for property financing needs. She said this problem has often been faced by Indonesians.

“We initially only offer to finance housing purchases,” she explained. However, Gradana now serves other services including GraSewa (rent financing), GraRenov (renovation financing), and GraStrata (secondary home financing). These services are Gradana’s respond to the demand of property-related needs in the country.

On the other hand, PT Svara Inovasi Indonesia is a local radio platform. Currently, the startup was reported to release its internet-based radio, music, and podcast services. The startup also named to target 2 million users in 2020. At least, 500.000 users will be reached this year.

 “The market’s strategy is to focus on shifting radio listeners first,” Svara Inovasi Indonesia Chairman Dwi Dwi Nuryanto said. The high number of smartphone users nowadays will improve the potential customers of Svara. The number of music and AM/FM radio listeners in Indonesia is around 95 million.

Botika is another startup to join the program. Established several years ago, Botika has been one of the best chatbot development startups in Indonesia. It offers a range of chatbot development services for its clients. Up to now, there have been 10 products offered by Botika.

Last but not least, there is Khaira Energy, a startup in the energy sector. This startup is quite active in attending various startup programs in Indonesia. Ultimately, with the AETP program, these four startups are hoped to grow well in the future.