Kemkominfo Holds HUB.ID to Hold Meeting between Startups

The Ministry of Communication and Information (Kemkominfo) officially launched a business matchmaking program for Indonesian startups through a program titled HUB.ID. This program is a space for startups to gain access to funding, business partnerships, and other partnerships.

“HUB.ID is a program to bring together leading startups to meet with investors. So, they will pitch and find partners to develop their business,” said the Director-General of Aptika at the Ministry of Communications and Informatics, Semuel Abrijani Pangerapan in a press conference, Wednesday (28/7/2021).

He said, this program will be present in the form of a series of speed mentoring, business matchmaking, networking sessions, to Demo Day. However, considering that it is still in a pandemic condition, this program will be held online.

“Usually, potential investors want to do face-to-face meetings (with startups), but with current conditions, it must be done online. This method has also begun to be carried out in other countries, because of limited mobility,” he explained.

The registration for the HUB.ID program for startups is open from July 28 to August 13, 2021. Furthermore, the curation process will be divided into two stages, namely August 18 to 20 2021 and August 23 to 25 2021.

Meanwhile, the mentoring session will be held from October 6 to 2, 2021, followed by a business matchmaking session from October 14 to 29 2021.

In this business matchmaking session, startups will be met with SOEs, private corporations, and government institutions that have been curated according to their business sector.

Next, networking sessions will be held in 10 cities from September 2 to October 29, 2021. This activity will present representatives of private corporations, academics, local governments, and industry players.

Through these two activities, startups are expected to be able to establish strategic partnerships with corporations or government agencies that have the same vision and mission as the businesses they build.

This series of programs will end with Demo Day Preparation on 1 to 12 November 2021. Meanwhile, Grand Demo Day will be held on 18 and 19 November 2021.

HUB.ID Participant Startup Criteria

Plt. Director of Digital Economy, Directorate General of Aptika, Ministry of Communication and Informatics, I Nyoman Adhiarna, said that this program can later be followed by startups that are in the pre-series A stage to the advanced stage.

“The target of this program is 50 digital startups that are ready with their business strategies and have been in business for more than six months. This means that they already have traction and their products have been used,” said I Nyoman.

Furthermore, I Nyoman said, the criteria for startups that can join the HUB.ID program this year focuses on several fields, namely agriculture and maritime affairs, education, health, tourism, logistics, finance, and smart cities.

In addition, the startup must run business operations in Indonesia with the majority ownership of Indonesian citizens. “They must also have a full commitment to participate in the HUB.ID program,” said I Nyoman.

Introducing Top Pitch Trainers

To support the program, I Nyoman said, the Ministry of Communication and Informatics will also present the famous pitch trainer Peter Browne. Hopefully, the selected startups will have the experience to make good presentations in front of investors.

Later, in the mentoring session, each startup will also receive training from a number of well-known figures in their respective verticals.

For example, there is TanihHub President & Co-Founder Pamitra Wineka for agriculture and maritime affairs, then in finance, there is LinkAja CEO Haryati Lawidjaja.

As for maintaining business continuity and startup investment, the Ministry of Communication and Informatics said it did not take part as a shareholder. For that, the government is fully a facilitator.

On this occasion, Semuel also said that HUB.ID is a development of the Nexticorn program which started in 2018, although it is not a direct follow-up program.

Furthermore, I Nyoman explained, Nexticorn is the final program that is at the top. So, this program will bring together foreign investors with selected startups.