Startup Funding of IDR 67 Trillion in Indonesia

Google, Temasek, and Bain in a report titled e-Conomy SEA 2021 estimate that the investment value to startups in Indonesia is US$ 4.7 billion or Rp. 67 trillion in the first half or January – June.

Nusantara is expected to have a new unicorn soon. Unicorn is a term for startups that have a valuation above US$ 1 billion. Indonesia has four new unicorns this year, namely J&T Express, OnlinePajak, Ajaib, and Xendit.

The name OnlinePajak was on CB Insights’ list titled ‘The Complete List of Unicorn Companies’, but later disappeared.

That way, Indonesia now has eight unicorns including Tokopedia, Bukalapak, Traveloka, OVO. In addition, there is one decacorn or valuation above US$ 10 billion, namely Gojek.

Edward Ismawan from Amvesindo said there was an opportunity to add unicorns this year. This is because investors’ interest in funding startups is still large.

Startup Investment Value Exceeds Total of Last Four Years

Based on a report from Google, Temasek, and Bain titled e-Conomy SEA 2021, the investment value to Indonesian startups was US$ 4.7 billion in the first half. Its value has surpassed its full-year achievements in the last four years.

He estimates that there are several potential startup sectors that will increase the number of unicorns in Indonesia. “The financial technology (fintech) and logistics sector has potential, because it dominates funding this year,” said Edward, Monday (15/11).

According to him, the health and education sectors also actually have considerable potential to become a unicorn. “But the health and education sectors will go through 1-2 times private investment first,” said Edward.

Then, other sectors such as agriculture will follow next year. Previously, Telkom’s subsidiary, MDI Ventures, said that there are two portfolio startups that will soon have unicorn status.

“We really hope that there will be two more investments that will become unicorns. We cannot mention their names for the moment. For sure, they are already in the pipeline,” said Telkom’s Strategic Portfolio Director Budi Setiawan Wijaya during a public expose, on September (6/06). 9).

Based on the MDI Ventures page, a number of startups that have been invested with capital include SiCepat, Alodokter, Amartha, Kredivo, Cermati, TaniHub, PrivyID, and many more. The venture capital also invests in foreign start-ups such as MPL from India and Anchanto in Singapore.

So far, Kredivo claims to have become a unicorn. This was conveyed by the Co-Founder and CEO of FinAccel Akshay Garg during a virtual press conference related to the IPO listing in August (3/8).

Fintech Sector also Planning IPO

The startup in the fintech sector is also planning an IPO on the United States (US) stock exchange. Kredivo is also considering listing its initial shares on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX).

Then the logistics startup from MDI Ventures, SiCepat was mentioned as having the opportunity to become a unicorn. This start-up completed a Series B funding of US$ 170 million or around Rp 2.44 trillion in March.

East Ventures Co-founder and Managing Partner Willson Weather also said, there are six portfolio startups that are preparing to become unicorns in less than a year.

“East Ventures is less than a year away, there are still six others who are ready to become unicorns,” he said during a virtual discussion session with the media, on October (14/10). He did not specify which sector startups are preparing to become unicorns. “From many categories,” he said.

Some of East Ventures’ portfolio startups that have unicorn status are Tokopedia, Traveloka, and Xendit. Although Willson did not specify the name or sector, Ruangguru is reportedly getting closer to unicorn status.

Tech In Asia reports that the educational startup has raised $55 million in funding from Tiger Global Management and GGV Capital in April.

The company said it would use the fresh funds to accelerate business expansion in Indonesia, Vietnam, and Thailand in the K-12 or elementary to high school segments and lifelong learning.