Indonesia Became the Big Five of the World’s Startups Creator

The rapid development of startup companies in Indonesia according to Minister of Finance, Sri Mulyani, has gained worldwide recognition. The startup industry of the country continues to grow, even some of which have been transformed into unicorns, a startup that has a capitalization of over USD 1 billion.

The mushrooming of the startup business for a decade closely related to innovation and technology seems to be a new weapon that is driving a country’s economy. Furthermore, Sri Mulyani explained that Indonesian startups have ranked fifth in the world. This is because of the progress of Indonesian startups lately.

“Indonesia can create a digital economy. The presence of startups such as Grab, Traveloka, and Bukalapak in the millennial era makes Indonesia the largest country with more than 2,000 startups. Which are among the top five in the world,” Finance Minister Sri Mulyani said in Jakarta.

She continued that using technology had a very good impact on the economy. This is because the digital economy through the use of technology at the same time can create new jobs and expanding access. “This gives access which previously did not have access,” she added.

Indonesian Startups Help the Community Generate Fixed Income

Many startups not only give access to sales but help the community to generate fixed income. Then, as an effort to encourage the progress of startups, Mulyani said that the government would fix the regulations regarding infrastructure for the development of Unicorn in Indonesia.

This is because Indonesian startups have high creativity and are a testament to the innovation of Indonesian young people. “We maintain to improve the startup ecosystem in Indonesia, including in terms of taxation. This is important so that in the future Unicorn Indonesia will continue to grow,” she said.

“We also continue to deal with companies related to taxation services. Digital technology allows transactions to run across borders, so the government must design policies that can create a fair taxation system,” she explained. She emphasized that the government will collect tax from fin-tech startup fairly as well.

The country’s treasurer emphasized that Indonesia currently has Law 11/2008 on ITE. But the Act is not enough to be able to provide security and safety of data properly so that it must be dissected to be strengthened. “This is what the government keeps building,” she said.

The Growth of Startups in Indonesia

Meanwhile, the growth of startups in Indonesia is not only monitored by the Ministry of Finance. These days, other ministries also pay attention to the development of Indonesian startups. For example, the Ministry of Research, Technology, and Higher Education will hold a startup exhibition next month.

There are at least 396 startups that are going to contribute to the event. This event is scheduled to be held in Jakarta Expo Center (JCC) on 4-6 October 2019. Other departments are now constantly focusing on supporting startups to encourage economic growth as well.

In addition to the current startups which already become a unicorn, some other ones are expected to follow these existing unicorns. There are at least 9 startups in Indonesia, including OVO and Akulaku which can be the next unicorn in the country.