Pluang Survey: Gold as the Favorite Investment Instrument During Pandemic

Pluang has just conducted a survey involving 5500 respondents from a number of major cities in Indonesia. Focusing on investing and saving behavior for the millennials. One of the findings, gold is the main choice (32%) for this age group during this pandemic for investment.

Pluang’s VP Business Development, Humprey explained, there are some factors that cause gold to be the top choice for millennials. One of them is affordability with promising reciprocity.

“As many as 32% of the millennial generation reportedly tried new investments, namely gold. This is the highest percentage compared to other well-known investments such as mutual funds, stocks, and deposits,” Humprey said in his presentation.

Humprey’s presentation shows that the new investment in gold chosen by their respondents far outperformed other forms of investment such as stocks (15%), mutual funds (16%), deposits (8%), to p2p lending (4%). Another factor that helped catapult the popularity of gold in the Kiwari group was the price of gold which had risen significantly in the April-July 2020 period.

This survey actually captures that the budget for investment tends to decrease. Millennials are known to save more during this pandemic. Millennial saving enthusiasm is known to increase by around 5-10%. However, the pandemic factor has also caused the millennial generation’s budget allocations to change a lot. The costs of transportation and travel are two budget items that have diminished considerably since the pandemic began.

The unprecedented situation due to the Covid-19 outbreak is enough reason for millennials to allocate more money to save. The need for pension funds, emergency funds, family savings, buying property, medical expenses, and education funds are respondents’ top priorities when saving.

Nevertheless, the survey overall found that millennials still prefer to save their money in the form of investment (59%) rather than saving (41%). Meanwhile, the most attractive investment, as mentioned earlier, is gold.

“There are 54% of millennials having new investment during the pandemic and gold is the main choice,” said Humprey.

As a digital investment platform, he believes gold offers great opportunities for companies during a pandemic. Gold is indeed one of the investment products offered by Pluang along with other products. The Pluang movement to take advantage of this opportunity has actually been seen since actively engaging other platforms to offer gold investment products.

Gojek and Dana are two of the names they have partnered with over the past few months. Humprey also admits that this is reflected in their current user profile and activity. “So the big picture of investment is very attractive, especially in gold, especially during this pandemic,” he added.

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Original article is in Indonesian, translated by Kristin Siagian

BRI Ventures Scores 150 Billion Rupiah in the First Close of Sembrani Nusantara

BRI Ventures today (25/11) announced the first closing of the Sembrani Nusantara Venture Fund. The value that was successfully booked reached 150 billion Rupiah; reached half of the total funds targeted at its launch in June 2020. Apart from BRI as a general partner, several investors are involved in this funding including Celebes Capital, Grab Holding, Fazz Financial Group, Investree, and Pandu Sjahrir.

He said his investment thesis is “beyond fintech”, which is targeting business areas outside the financial technology sector – adjusting the pillars of the “EARTH” sector (education, agro-maritime, retail, transportation/logistics, health). Sembrani will also focus on empowering SMEs; which will have an impact on strengthening BRI as the largest microfinance institution in the world.

To date, there have been two startups that have listed on Sembrani’s portfolio, but it’s still undisclosed.

“We are very pleased with the positive response generated from the investors of the Sembrani Nusantara Venture Fund in this first funding period. All of these investors are those who have experience investing in start-up companies and those who believe in the digital ecosystem in Indonesia. They believe in our goal to build sustainable future and startup companies,” BRI Ventures’s CEO Nicko Widjaja said.

The Sembrani Nusantara Venture Fund is also registered and supervised by the OJK. A venture fund is an investment contract scheme between the PMV (Venture Capital Company) itself and a custodian bank, which was created by OJK so that the venture capital company industry will be more willing to invest in shares. So far, the majority of local PMVs have played in profit-sharing financing, which is not much different from what financing companies do.

Nicko said in an interview that the launch of Sembrani was aimed at building an ecosystem that had been dominated by foreign PMVs. In the past, he thought the local PMV was not ready, but now is the right moment to show off on the national and regional levels.

It is undeniable that so far venture capital has tended to choose to take shelter under the regulations of neighboring countries. The issue of high taxation in Indonesia is the main reason. Capital gain tax application for PMV reaches 25% of the increase in equity value, while for individual investors it is 30%. Meanwhile, the capital gains tax in Singapore is only 5%.

The majority of local PMVs that fund digital startups and are registered with the OJK are part of the bank’s subsidiaries, including Central Capital Ventura (CVC chose BCA), BRI Ventures, Mandiri Capital Indonesia, and OCBC NISP Ventura.

Sustainable startups through IPO

Sembrani is a term used by BRI Ventures to describe sustainable local startups post the unicorn era. Sembrani is also known as Batara Wisnu’s riding horse in the puppet stories – it is said to represent the unicorn with local wisdom.

One of the steps to realizing this vision is to ensure that all aspects of the investment cycle runs well, through an initial public offering (IPO) as a first step towards becoming more sustainable. This was carried out by signing an MoU between BRI Ventures and the Indonesia Stock Exchange on November 11, 2020, with the intention of helping more startups to IPO on local exchanges.

BRI Ventures hopes that through Sembrani, stakeholders will open discussions to explore new business models so that in the future investors can participate in building venture funds in Indonesia. The structure of Sembrani is a Joint Investment Contract (KIB) which is similar to a Collective Investment Contract (KIK) in mutual funds which are generally known and supervised by OJK.

“Given our goal of supporting the local digital ecosystem and building IPO-worthy startups, we realize that the Sembrani Nusantara Fund can play a more active role in the local funding landscape in the future and build a venture capital industry that is competitive with Singapore,” said Nicko.

The investor composition, most of whom come from Indonesia, is interpreted as a big step to bring the local startup ecosystem to be more competitive in the global arena. Nicko explained that each investor will have a big contribution to the realization of this vision.

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Original article is in Indonesian, translated by Kristin Siagian

Warung Pintar Introduces Application for Wholesalers, Entering the Supply Chain Business

The new retail startup Warung Pintar recently launched its latest innovation. Named “Grosir Pintar”, the application seeks to provide wholesale entrepreneurs access to inventory management and reach a wider market.

Simply put, wholesale owners can immediately offer their merchandise to shop owners which registered with the Warung Pintar application. This new feature is also equipped with logistics services to support the delivery of goods.

“Warung Pintar directly cooperates with wholesale entrepreneurs who stand alone in each region. We do this to maintain the quality of goods and services to keep them optimal and encourage empowerment in the entire shop ecosystem,” Warung Pintar’s Co-Founder & COO Harya Putra said.

He further explained that shop owners have access to a wider variety of goods, including local specialty products, at competitive prices; and can receive orders within hours through the same-day delivery service.

“Delivery of goods, both for wholesalers and shop owners, is performed by the logistics system owned by Warung Pintar. Embracing local residents to join as couriers, is one of our efforts to revive the economy in the region as a whole by providing equal benefits,” Harya added.

The business model applied by Grosir Pintar is commission based. Although he did not explain the details, Harya explained that the calculations were in accordance with the agreement with the wholesalers and adjusted to the established standards.

“Starting from direct findings from wholesalers in the field, in the midst of this pandemic, there are physical limitations that lead to difficulties in reaching shop customers, the fulfillment of goods, and increased logistics costs. That’s why we embraced more than 60 of the best wholesalers in 14 cities,” Harya said.

Starting in Surabaya, until now, Grosir Pintar can be accessed in Jakarta, Bandung, Depok, Kediri, Mojokerto, Jember, and several other cities in Java.

Warung supply chain

Digital players are increasingly working on the supply chain business for warungs. With a unique approach, currently, there are several startups playing in this area. First, with the capital financing approach (invoice financing), startups like AwanTunai make it easier for shop owners to fill their merchandise shelves through productive credit. Connecting micro and small entrepreneurs with distribution partners who provide a variety of needs – including wholesalers.

Through the GoToko application, Decacorn Gojek also tries to offer the same service for stall or grocery store owners to fulfill sales goods and products. They also take advantage of various services in their ecosystem, such as logistics with GoSend, payments via GoPay, and business management through GoBiz.

It’s not the last, Chilibeli, previously known as social commerce, is targeting the C2C segment, in the middle of last year, introduced Chilimart. With a B2B concept, they target micro-entrepreneurs as their target market. In addition, previously there was also the Ula application, which was designed as a marketplace for the fulfillment of merchandise in a warung. Ula is also integrated with AwanTunai’s financing services.

Based on BPS data, 63 million micro-entrepreneurs are mostly engaged in retail or trade. The potential for a large economic unit gives digital players a special spirit to work on this market.

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Original article is in Indonesian, translated by Kristin Siagian

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Sembrani Nusantara’s Structure Resembles Mutual Fund, BRI Ventures to Launch Venture Debt

BRI Ventures (BVI) last week announced the closing of the first round of the Sembrani Nusantara Venture Fund. This fund booked 150 billion Rupiah in managed funds from a number of investors. Not just ordinary managed funds, Sembrani has a relatively new structure in the landscape of Indonesia’s digital industry. The structure is in the form of a Joint Investment Contract (KIB), which takes a similar concept to a Collective Investment Contract (KIK) in mutual funds. The Net Asset Value (NAV) calculation index will be issued quarterly by the custodian bank.

As a fund registered with the OJK, BVI wants to comply with the applicable legal rules. Meanwhile, currently in Indonesia, there are no official rules regarding limited partnership agreements (Limited Partners) which venture capitalists usually adopt to manage their funds. A form similar to mutual funds is expected to make it easier for the public to accept the concept that Sembrani has adopted.

This fund structure is very unique, because participating investors can subscribe and redeem from the Sembrani Nusantara Ventura Fund on every window of subscription that is opened every quarter. That is something limited partners cannot do with the existing VC fund model,” BVI’s VP of Investment Markus Liman Rahardja said.

With this structure, BVI is said to offer a level of flexibility and liquidity that cannot be owned by existing VC funds (from abroad). Fund backers can choose to deposit and redeem their funds for a certain period. This mechanism encourages Sembrani’s claim to be similar to a mutual fund with a scheme that is common among Indonesians.

In addition, he hopes that this venture fund can be a more effective way for organizations or individuals with a high net worth (high net worth individual) to take part in investing in the fast-growing Indonesian tech startup ecosystem. Previously, when investing in Indonesian startups, their most common practice was to enter into limited agreements with venture capitalists registered in Singapore.

“For now, we are still selecting investors who join. Given the very early age of the venture capital industry and its high risk, we limit it to those who have experience investing in startups. Investors continue to discuss with us to increase industrial development. venture capital in Indonesia,” BVI’s CEO Nicko Widjaja added.

Venture debt with Investree

Adian Gunadi dan Nicko Widjaja dalam virtual press conference pendanaan seri C pada April 2020 lalu / Investree — Adrian Gunadi with Nicko Widjaja in Series C virtual conference last April 2020 / Investree

BVI has also signed a partnership with Investree to offer capital in the form of venture debt. In the early phase, BVI has prepared 60 billion Rupiah through Sembrani. Investree is BVI’s portfolio and is also an investor in Sembrani Nusantara.

The productive financing model is considered to be able to provide solutions for early-stage startups, especially for those yet to have tangible assets and sufficient cash flow for submission to traditional debt instruments.

This option can be an option for founders to obtain capital funds while maintaining ownership of their business, plus simpler governance. They do not need to allocate board seats for investors, provide voting rights to multiple stakeholders, and so on.

Investree plays a role in performing the initial screening process and due diligence for the startup submissions. Later, startups that successfully paid off the first stage loan can apply for a return to the next stage with a greater value.

There are several benchmarks for startups in order to pass. First, the purpose of capital must be related to company expansion, which means it must have a valid business model.

Second, startups must not have an alarming debt history for the past 12 months and must pass risk and credit assessments according to the requirements set by PT Pemeringkat Efek Indonesia (Pefindo).

“Venture debt will be in the form of productive financing. Investree, as experienced in productive financing, will assist us in conducting initial screening and KYC assessments for startups. Funds will come from the Sembrani Nusantara Venture Fund,” Nicko said.

According to Investree’s Co-Founder & CEO Adrian Gunadi, productive financing is often the preferred initial financing option for startups over equity investment. If a company is truly healthy, it can pay back its round of debt without sacrificing business ownership. Usually, equity (which has been given) is very difficult for startups to recover.

“There are not many debt financing options available for technology startups, because of their risk. [..] We believe that our ability to provide an assessment allows us to capture the risk profile of startups,” said Adrian.

Markus added, “In recent years, there have been several players who claim to have offered venture debt in Indonesia, but in fact, they are not active in the market. For that, we are confident that we can call ourselves the first local VC to offer productive financing. ] This is one way of identifying early on which companies are achieving sustainable growth and real profitability. It will also help us better understand which startups will be eligible for IPOs in the near future.”

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Original article is in Indonesian, translated by Kristin Siagian

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Carsome Indonesia on Succession, to Enter the C2B2C Business Model

In order to boost its business in Indonesia, the used car sales platform Carsome has just appointed Delly Nugraha as General Manager of Indonesia. Previously, Delly was known as VP at Gojek who was responsible for the development of SME partners. This succession was also used by Carsome as a form of commitment to seriously work on the Indonesian market. An understanding of the local market is considered important to support this goal.

In a media conference this afternoon (26/11), Delly conveyed a number of strategies that would be taken to improve Carsome’s business. One of them is to launch the C2B2C business model in 2021, enabling consumers to sell their used cars, as well as buy used cars through applications. Previously, Carsome applied C2B services, as a medium for consumers to sell their cars to dealerships – including promotional, inspection, and payment services.

Furthermore, Delly said, there are two things that will be done to strengthen the existence of Carsome Indonesia. First, continue to build consumer trust by improving used car buying and selling services that are easy, fast, and transparent. Second, build organizational and team strength in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic situation. He believes that the positive growth in business results is in line with generating positive business margins as well.

“The used car market was affected by the pandemic, but has started to show growth again in the last few months. We believe the used car market will recover and improve in 2021. Our role at Carsome is to continue to maintain and even increase the momentum of the used car market revival,” said Delly.

According to the research by DSResearch in 2018, there are several car sales services that are currently popular in Indonesia. At that time the survey was followed by 729 respondents who had made car sales transactions through the application. Apart from Carsome, there are BeliMobilGue (now rebranded as OLX Autos) and Carro.

Carsome has been present in Indonesia since 2017. As the business strengthens, including the series C funding worth $50 million obtained at the end of 2019, currently in Indonesia they have reached more than 4100 dealers. Overall they have also helped sell more than 100 thousand used cars in their operational areas, namely in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore.

Also attending the Grace Quah event as Regional Marketing Director. He said the most significant markets for Carsome were Indonesia and Malaysia. Many efforts are being made to become a market leader, including they are currently raising new funding to present various product and service initiatives for consumers. There are no details that can be conveyed about the fundraising, the process is not yet complete.

This year, Carsome also launched several technology products, namely the CARpartner and CARdealer applications (previously known as CarsomeGO) to simplify and accelerate the process of searching for used car information and transaction convenience for used car dealers.

“We have a unique value proposition, from the dealer side, they will get more and faster offers (after the goods are inspected). Having more comprehensive options makes them happier. From the consumer side, products are also offered at competitive prices, because our system offers used cars that are sold to many dealers at once – they can bid up to a deal at a certain number, ”Delly said.

With the presence of new business models and innovations, Delly is optimistic that Carsome will become the market leader. This year, it is said to have doubled its sales from before the pandemic. In fact, the growth of used cars sold through Carsome increased by almost 300% quarter-on-quarter in the third quarter of this year.

* Note: We are revising parts of the business model, from C2C to C2B2C

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Original article is in Indonesian, translated by Kristin Siagian

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Edtech Startup Pendidikan.id to Reach Profitability, Preparing for Series A Round

Edtech startup Pendidikan.id, known for its product Kipin (Smart Kiosks), revealed that it is in the process of raising Series A to launch the company’s expansion plan to schools in rural areas and 3T which have difficulty getting internet access. With the B2B2C model and targeting schools as users, it is claimed that company finances have entered the profitability stage.

Pendidikan.id’s CEO, Santoso Suratso explained to DailySocial that the company started Kipin to answer the needs of students in remote areas who have had difficulty getting internet access.

The position of the company is slightly different from other edtech players, which mostly create web-based solutions or applications, Kipin is in the form of a kiosk resembling an ATM in which there are materials that can be accessed by students without needing an internet network.

“Kipin ATM answers and provides solutions to all of this, in terms of schools, and the village hall is very happy because it really helps them,” he said.

He continued, among the investors at Pendidikan.id there is Garden Impact, a Singapore-based investor focused on investing in commercially sustainable businesses. They entered Pendidikan.id in 2016 for seed investment, then provide additional funding, to be precise in 2018 and 2019.

The funds obtained are used for research and product development. Another investor, there is a local property company The Paradise Group (Indonesian Paradise Property). In the list of Garden Impact portfolio, there is also an edtech company that focuses on finance, DanaDidik.

Sumber: Kipin (Kios Pintar) — Source: Kipin (Kios Pintar)

Kipin updates

The company places Kipin as a learning support infrastructure in the PJJ (Distance Learning) era so that schools have a learning method where students remain in class, even though they are physically absent at school to access the content provided by Kipin. There are more than 2500 school textbooks, videos, practice questions on UNBK-based tryouts, up to 350 comics.

All of this content is already in the machine, so the operation of this machine does not use the internet, only electricity. So, both students and teachers can access and download all of this content to their devices without credit or quota because there is already an ‘eduSPOT’ wifi network on the machine.

Every month Kipin ATM will be updated automatically, so users will always get the latest subject matter. Additional technology contained in ATMs includes backup power, including backup batteries. If the electricity connection is suddenly cut off, then Kipin ATM can still last several hours.

“Kipin is free for all students because the school is buying it (B2B2C), so children who are less fortunate can still use it. Even if the device does not have a SIM card, it can still run because there is eduSPOT technology at Kipin. One kiosk can serve one school with up to 500 students. ”

Santoso continued, “We created this innovation ourselves based on Pak Jokowi’s idea. These are all the results of annual research and development, from seven years ago. ”

In addition to Kipin ATM, the company also has other products, namely Kipin PTO, a learning evaluation system tool and a paperless exam without internet that is in accordance with the Minimum Competency Assessment (AKM). This AI-powered device helps teachers during PJJ because all exam questions are solved by cellphones, tablets, or laptops and don’t need to be connected to the internet.

Equipped with a question upload system with Ms. Word and Ms. Excel, exam results will appear shortly after completion, a time management system is available for starting and ending exams, and supports essay questions with weights determined by the teacher.

“With the AI feature, teachers can save time, have auto-grading, and so on. It’s all digital-based, paperless, therefore, it’s cost-effective. ”

Santoso also said, in this PJJ era, Kipin adoption remains high because teachers who have used Kipin feel happy because there are no differences and already understand how work works.

Currently, the products made by Pendidikan.id have been used by schools in rural areas, including Jambi, Banten, Bandung, Purwokerto, Semarang, Surabaya, Lombok, North Kalimantan, East Kalimantan, Gorontalo, Palu, Kupang, as well as in Jabotabek.

Pendidikan.id is said to have a total team of 100 people. The engineering team at the company is divided into three divisions, namely for educational content development, hardware and design development, and software, web, and applications.

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Original article is in Indonesian, translated by Kristin Siagian

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Edtech Startup Pahamify Receives Series A Funding Led by Shunwei Capital

Edtech startup Pahamify announced series A funding with undisclosed value, led by Shunwei Capital. New investors participated in are Lien Family Office (Wah Hin) and a number of angel investors, as well as previous investors. Insignia Ventures also involved in this round.

The news was delivered by Pahamify’s Co-Founder & CEO Rousyan Fikri. He said the fund is to be used for the development of learning materials from elementary to high school levels. It will also be used to accelerate technological innovation and the teaching process on the platform.

“This fund will help Pahamify to maintain our position as a leader in the online tryout service (PTN entrance exam preparation). Last year, we served nearly 1 million practice trial exam sessions. 1 of 3 students who took UTBK last year used Pahamify for their test practice,” Rousyan said, Friday (27/11).

Previously, last March, the company has received funding of $150 thousand from the US-based accelerator program, Y Combinator, after participating in the W20 batch.

The pandemic effect

Rousyan continued, this pandemic has encouraged edtech companies like Pahamify to accelerate the innovation level to support the whole student needs. Some of the released features including live online classes for high school students and equivalent for free. There are also learning materials for science, social studies, language, and preparation for higher education entrance examinations (UTBK and Mandiri).

In this online class, everyday students can take in-class sessions, there are six to eight classes each day, through the application and interacting with the teachers (called Rockstar Teacher Pahamify) which makes the learning atmosphere more interactive. “To help students during their study at home, we still provide this feature for free.”

In addition, during the pandemic, he claimed that the Pahamify online tryout feature was recommended by Indonesian students as the best platform for UTBK preparation. In this feature, they get practice exams every week and get immediate feedback about their practice results.

“Our system recommends concrete steps students can take to improve their scores and strengthen their exam preparation.”

The company also participates in a program organized by the Ministry of Education and Culture, namely Learning from Home which is held on TVRI. “We hope Pahamify’s contribution to this program can help the teaching and learning process of Indonesian students in this difficult time.”

All of these innovations are quite good results for the company. Rousyan claims, thanks to satisfaction with Pahamify, 2020 graduate users have recommended this application to their juniors.

“As a result, in the current academic year, even though it has only been running for four months, the number of paid users is already 10 times more than the number of paid users in the previous academic year,” he concluded.

In Indonesia, Pahamify competes with Ruangguru, Zenius, and Quipper.

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Original article is in Indonesian, translated by Kristin Siagian

GDP’s On Lee Talks about The Potential of AI in Indonesian Tech Industry

This article is a part of DailySocial’s Mastermind Series, featuring innovators and leaders in Indonesia’s tech industry sharing their stories and point of view.

Spending almost over thirty years outside the nation, the CEO & CTO of GDP Labs and CTO of GDP Venture, On Lee finally returned to Indonesia in 2011. In the span of 10 years, he managed to grow GDP Venture and build GDP Labs from scratch, based on the best practice he learned from overseas. Meanwhile, he previously served as the CEO & CTO of Kaskus, the largest Indonesian online community forum in Indonesia.

With over 30 years of experience in internet, mobile, AI, Blockchain, Semantic Web, Knowledge Graph, consumer and enterprise software development, he has held various management and technical positions as a co-founder, CEO, CTO, Executive VP of Engineering, and engineer in both startup and Fortune 500 companies in the US.

On Lee has quite an interest in Artificial Intelligence innovation. He was doing electrical engineering before eventually shifting major into computer science. His belief in the Indonesian tech industry and local engineers has brought him the inspiration for GDP Labs. From 2012 to date, GDP has employed 160 people [mostly engineers] in five cities in Indonesia, Jakarta, Bandung, Bali, Yogyakarta, and Surabaya.

Through GDP Venture, as a venture builder, focusing on digital communities, media, commerce, and solution companies in the Indonesian consumer internet industry. They have invested in over 50 portfolios and still counting. Additionally, he has built teams to start strategic new products in startups and large companies in the US, Indonesia, China, and India.

DailySocial managed to convince him to share some insightful stories along his entrepreneurial journey.

As the CTO of GDP Ventures, also the CEO & CTO of GDP Labs, do you think the Indonesian tech industry has the potential to develop the global center for high technology and innovation or become a tech hub?

Definitely. Digital technology and AI represent a golden opportunity for Indonesia, with a relatively young and vibrant population of over 260 million people. The country boasts a median age of 30 and a literacy rate of 95 percent. Indonesian digital start-ups are primed and ready to follow in the footsteps of other Asian countries such as Japan, India, Taiwan, Korea, and China, which have been successful in transforming their countries through technology. They have significantly improved people’s skills, the standard of living, and productivity and have been recognized as key global players in the world. The Indonesian government has multiple technology initiatives; most universities offer computer science classes; and local and foreign investors are investing heavily in the digital economy, and this has only accelerated during the pandemic.

You’ve been away for almost thirty years, growing knowledge in the U.S. What drives you back to Indonesia and finally started GDP Labs? What was your dream?

I returned to Indonesia due to family reasons. Our parents were getting old, and we needed to take care of them.

I then discovered many great but raw software engineering talents distributed in Indonesia. Many of them did not have the opportunity to receive the right training, mentoring, etc. Mr. Martin Hartono, CEO at GDP Venture, and I are nurturing some of the brightest and most promising young leaders who would become technology savvy and well-rounded in business and leadership at GDP Labs. Our efforts show promising early results.

On Lee at GDP Labs Team Building 2018 with Martin Hartono

When was the first time you encountered the tech industry? Does technology always been your passion?

I originally majored in electrical engineering. I then switched to a computer science major with a minor in mathematics.

One of my hobbies is playing chess. I used to be a professional chess player. I am interested in computer science, mathematics, and chess because they have two things in common: logic and problem-solving. They helped improve my life personally and professionally.

on lee 9 — On Lee was playing chess simultaneously with 2 of his engineers

I read some of your articles about Artificial Intelligence (AI). What makes you believe in the first place that this technology can be a key solution for most problems in the world?

McKinsey predicts AI has the potential to deliver additional global economic activity of around USD 13 trillion by 2030. Yes, that’s USD 13 trillion. Some experts have said that AI is as important as the discovery of fire and electricity. Although that may seem like an exaggeration, the point is that AI is going to be one of the most important technologies humanity will ever invent, leaving an impact on society and business in a deeply profound way. It will likely be in a class by itself. It is going to be part of our personal lives, across virtually all industries. AI will help accelerate the global economy’s recovery and growth and position Indonesia well for the future of a new world before us.

2020 is not an ideal situation for everyone, do you believe our tech industry can play a big part in our country’s recovery?

2020 has been hard for everyone due to the pandemic which leads to bankruptcies, unemployment, and social issues. In addition to reducing costs, increasing productivity and convenience, technology will help us be safer and healthier. This will help to lead economic recovery faster.

Many companies and governments are accelerating their digital transformation using cloud computing, mobile computing, and AI during the pandemic.

How about GDP Venture and GDP Labs, does this pandemic situation affect the company in a significant way?

Yes, no one is immune. We have asked our companies to revise their 2020 plan on how to survive in the short term and thrive in the long term. Pandemic is like a magnifying glass and accelerator. It highlights what you have been doing right but also what you have been doing wrong. We have chosen to accelerate some initiatives. In short, we needed to adapt.

In terms of investment, do you think Indonesia has provided a good investment climate for its tech industry? Do you see any significant change in the tech investment scene before and after the pandemic?

Yes. We get good government support. Universities produce many software engineers annually, and almost 200 million Internet users in Indonesia, entrepreneurs, local and foreign investors.

The pandemic is a good wake up call. Startups focus on what matters most to survive and thrive, company valuations and expectations become more realistic. It is a humbling experience.

Some of GDP Venture’s portfolios

As a serial entrepreneur with over 30 years of experience in technology, I believe you’ve been put in a bad situation before. Are you willing to share some of the hardships in building a venture? And how you come up with a solution amid the pressure?

Yes. Timing and luck play a big part in both established companies’ and startups’ success or failure. One of the startups that I worked at was on track to hit a billion-dollar valuation in Silicon Valley. Unfortunately, the 2008 recession hit the US and technical debts. The company was sold for lower than our expectations even though we still made some profit.

Do you have certain figures(mentors) to help you through the hard days? Some kind of support system?

Definitely. I was fortunate to get help from many people — friends, family, mentors, colleagues, teachers, and even strangers.

Everyone will have low points in their lives. They need a support system to go through hardship. I haven’t seen anyone successful by doing it alone.

Who inspired you to be the person you are now? Do you have goals you’re yet to achieve?

Many people — technologists, scientists, sportspeople, artists — inspired me. They have the following characteristics: they were constantly learning to be well-rounded in leadership, business, and master in their domain.

I believe it’s important to help young people because many people helped and gave me opportunities when I was young and inexperienced. There are so many opportunities to disrupt many areas using technology, while some established companies are still using 20th-century technology. Stay healthy.

What will you say to those tech enthusiasts struggling to pave their paths into the industry yet stumble upon the current pandemic situation?

Clarity. Confidence. Conviction. Have clarity on what you want to do. Execute on it with confidence and conviction relentlessly. There are hidden opportunities during the pandemic.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is said to replace a human’s job. As a human, has it ever occurred to you that there’s the worst scenario that can result from this technology?

AI will replace some existing jobs. But, it will also create new types of jobs; more than it eliminates. Let’s look at the following two scenarios.

First, the car industry replaced the horse industry. There are over 1.4 billion cars and there are only 58 million horses in the world now. The car industry – production, services, newfound mobility, etc. – has created more jobs than it eliminated from the horse industry.

Second, there was a company implementing AI-powered robots in their warehouses. Many employees were worried they would lose their jobs. It turned out that the company hired more people due to robots. This may seem counter-intuitive. Why? Because robots are efficient and work 24 hours a day so they produce more; humans became the bottleneck and more humans needed to be hired to keep up with the robot. Although robots could do certain tasks, they couldn’t do anything.

Humans will be free to do more creative work while technology and AI take care of mechanical work. Also, technology and AI free up some of humanity’s time so we could spend our time with other people.

In short, AI augments humans’ creativity and ultimately makes us more human.

Kata.ai Announces Series B Funding, to Launch a Social Commerce Platform

Wednesday (25/11), the AI and NLP powered conversational technology platform Kata.ai announced a series B funding led by the Trans-Pacific Technology Fund with the participation of MDI Ventures and Buana Investama. The nominal is still undisclosed. Funds will be focused on expanding and accelerating AI services in a broader industry, such as commerce, healthcare, and insurtech.

“The focus is on expanding services towards SMEs, particularly social commerce, as well as accelerating AI services in other industries such as healthcare and engineering. Kata.ai is here as an enabler to help players in this industry be more thriving with artificial intelligence technology,” Kata.ai’s CEO, Irzan Raditya said in the media pers conference for INTERACT 2020.

Irzan also said that Indonesia’s digital economy is projected to reach $125 billion in 2025. It is estimated that by 2030, the impact of artificial intelligence on Indonesia’s GDP could reach $ 366 billion. This number is quite massive considering the positive impact that AI can have on Indonesia.

In addition, with the challenges posed by the pandemic, businesses must find new ways to survive and sustain sales. As many as 125 million Indonesians have used WhatsApp and 70 million of them already have Instagram. This should be used by business people to create new experiences in shopping.

Launching Qios

The social commerce platform is predicted to have quite a big role in online commerce sales in Indonesia. McKinsey predicts that by 2022 the total Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) of social commerce in Indonesia will reach $ 25 billion. Looking at the problems and opportunities that exist, 2021 is predicted to be a momentum for conversational commerce, this solution is not only used for customer service but can also be a scalable sales service.

QIOS is a service for SMEs, especially social sellers who sell through social media to manage their business. Through this platform, SME players can create a virtual system via WhatsApp to serve inquiries, as well as payments to delivery.

This platform is integrated with e-wallets such as OVO, DANA Linkaja, and also logistics services such as Go-Send and Grab Express. Through this platform, SMEs are expected to be more focused on managing their business with the help of AI and chatbots.

“We see a lot of opportunities in this sector, apart from chatbot technology, we are also developing voice technology, and looking for ways to transform business actors in Indonesia at the micro, small and medium scale,” Irzan said.

Currently, Qios is still available in beta. The current business model is freemium, however, there will be a fee for each transaction made on the platform. There is no further information regarding the calculations. One of the merchants that have used Qios’s services is the Tuku Coffee Shop.

Business plan 2021

Since founded in 2016, Kata.ai has collaborated with various institutions on its mission to provide conversational AI services that are scalable and have a broad impact on the people of Indonesia. Some of these include launching a virtual assistant to accommodate the needs of BPJS users, also working with Prixa to provide an AI-based symptom check system.

Kata.ai has experienced very rapid growth. The growth rate in 2020 will increase by 5x from the previous year. To date, Kata.ai has processed more than 750 million conversations. In addition, there are 3 million Monthly Active Users who interact with chatbots created using Kata Platform.

The pandemic is said to be one of the supporting factors for business fertility that allows triple growth, which usually takes 18 months to become in just 6 months.

Regarding the business plan, Irzan said, “Our business plan remains to accelerate digital transformation in Indonesia for business people.”

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Original article is in Indonesian, translated by Kristin Siagian

Mandiri Capital to Release Two New Funds Next Year

Mandiri Capital Indonesia announced two new managed funds for next year, the Mandiri Venture Fund and the Indonesia Impact Fund. Both have different target segments and are said to already have investors who also act as LPs.

“Operating in the startup ecosystem, we must have sufficient managed funds, with a track record of five years investing in fintech startups, we can provide multiple returns. Therefore, we believe that we can start managing funds not only from Bank Mandiri,” MCI’s CEO Eddi Danusaputro said during a press conference on the 5th anniversary of MCI, Wednesday (25/11).

The process of collecting LP for the Mandiri Venture Fund has started since last year with a target fund of $100 million. However, it was missed the target due to the impact of the pandemic.

Eddi said, this debut fund will be an opening for MCI to manage more funds in the future that come from high net worth individuals (HNWI), family offices, and so on.

Meanwhile, the Indonesia Impact Fund (IIF) is targeted to raise $25 million. IIF is managed along with the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) Indonesia. This fund is quite different in particular because it focuses more on startup investments than creating environmental and social impacts that refer to the five goals in the sustainable development goals (SDG).

The five goals are poverty alleviation, affordable health services, quality, and accessible education, increased women’s participation, and sustainable cities, and affordable housing.

He also revealed that there are many startups that show SDG spirit, but most of them lack a startup spirit. This condition raises new challenges, how they make their company run with a sustainable business.

Nevertheless, he admitted securing several prospective companies, although there were no further details regarding this statement.

“Many social entrepreneurs have only been thinking about their business because they first focused on creating social impact. However, we have compiled a matrix for how they can do business.”

Five years of MCI

MCI has invested a total value of IDR1 trillion in 14 startups since its establishment five years ago. There are three fintech sub-sectors MCI has entered into, p2p lending, payments, and business solutions. Through this series of investments, MCI has encouraged various innovations and synergies with the Mandiri Group, such as channeling capital to more than tens of thousands of SME segments, from conventional to agricultural business sectors.

The company’s equity position is in the range of IDR1.8 trillion and assets of IDR2 trillion as of September 2020. It is claimed that this achievement puts MCI in the first position for equity and second for assets compared to other venture capital players in Indonesia.

In the list of MCI’s 14 startup portfolios, Gojek is somehow included. Eddi said the company had a full exit from Moka when it was fully acquired by Gojek. In exchange, the company received returns in the form of cash and minority shares in Gojek. Another exited portfolio is Cashlez through IPO in May 2020.

“The more investment and divestment happen, the healthier the startup and VC ecosystem will be,” he concluded.

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Original article is in Indonesian, translated by Kristin Siagian