idEA Under a New Successor, to Strengthen the Digital Economy Ecosystem

The Indonesian E-commerce Association (idEA) appointed Bima Laga as the new Chairman for the 2020-2022 management period, replacing the last one, Ignatius Untung. Bima currently serves as AVP of Public Policy and Government Relations at Bukalapak.

While at the association, he has joined the two previous management. First, as the Head of Tax, Cybersecurity, Infrastructure. Second, as Chair of Indonesia’s Digital Economy. Armed with his previous experiences, he wants to strengthen the digital economy and keep it as the focus of idEA’s work during his realm.

In a virtual interview with a limited number of media last week (4/9), Bima said that he wanted to achieve the mission to maintain the existence of idEA as an association in the digital economy, as a partner of the government and regions in the planning of regulations in the creation of Indonesian business climate.

Next, expand the opportunities for micro, small, and medium businesses to take advantage of the digital platform by facilitating onboarding activities and digital sales training. Another mission is to make idEA an independent and open association as a space for all lines of digital economy business.

“In the short term, we want to help make it easier for MSMEs onboarding to digital platforms, that’s one of them. For the long term, we want the marketplace to compete at the international level, therefore, exports will be much easier,” he explained.

In order to harmonize these missions, Bima arranged the management of idEA under 10 working groups (pokja). Each will represent issues and solutions to problems in the digital economy. The 10 working groups are a.l. trade and export sector, data and cybersecurity sector, consumer protection sector, MSME empowerment sector and creative economy, research, and development sector.

Next, the field of taxation and financial technology, the field of logistics and transportation, the field of manpower and human resources, the field of local government relations, and the field of public communication.

Basically the working group was much more detailed and specific than the previous management under Untung. At that time, Untung divided it into four, government relations, external relations, internal relations, and business development & supporting services.

Moreover, the preparation of this work program on these two management offices is a form of the widening focus of idEA’s work which is no longer just an association for e-commerce players, but for the digital economy. The membership contains not only by e-commerce players but also by verticals in other technology industries.

Bima will continue several programs that have been implemented during his previous management to support the plans he has made. One of them is the idEA Works job fair program to attract more digital talents in vocational schools who are ready to work and in accordance with industry needs.

In this regard, he continued, the association is in discussion with the edtech players to collaborate in order to support the mission of preparing new talents. Especially during this pandemic, the entire process of absorbing new workers has shifted to a digital platform. Therefore, talents must be prepared from the start.

“During the pandemic, according to BPS, the still-growing industries are pharmaceuticals and technology. The rest is minus, it means that the technology industry is promising and there is momentum for a rebound. ”

In terms of strengthening regulations such as PP Number 80 of 2019 concerning Trade Through Electronic Systems (PP PMSE), Bima said that his team would continue to oversee its implementation and participate in delivering more effective input. Cyber issues and consumer data protection have recently become sensitive issues and need to be addressed immediately.

During this pandemic, associations played a role in encouraging MSMEs to go digital. You do this by actively holding online workshops that provide beneficial education and mobilizing the National Proud Movement of Indonesia (Gernas BBI). On this occasion, during the May-August 2020 period, it was said that there were 1.6 million new entrepreneurs who joined.

“This is a program of economic recovery by shopping. If people buy local products, then we can move the economy, regardless of what products they buy. The hope is that this will become a sustainable activity and become a roadmap for the country’s economic recovery in the future,” Bima concluded.

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Original article is in Indonesian, translated by Kristin Siagian

Midtrans and Supportive Moves for SME Players to Adopt Digital Business

As the pioneer of payment gateway services in Indonesia, Midtrans’ business journey is quite captivating. Especially now that they have become part of Gojek, sharpening the vision to help SMEs in improving digital services in their business.

In the #SelasaStartup session, Midtrans CEO Erwin Tanudjaja revealed Midtrans’ future business plans and focus. Here is the summary:

Positive growth with Gojek

It has been almost two years since Midtrans joined Gojek. This collaboration is acknowledged by the company as enough to increase Midtrans (formerly Veritrans) popularity. As a payment gateway platform, Midtrans has been in charge of supporting businesses in developing payment features on its platform. However, when a strategic collaboration occurs with Gojek, it will open up more opportunities for Midtrans to contribute to SMEs in Indonesia.

“In terms of Midtrans, we are proud to be part of the huge Gojek ecosystem. Not only increasing the number of SME partners but enabling us to accelerate the growth of SMEs in terms of digital payments,” Erwin said.

Midtrans, who have been working behind the scenes, adjusted Gojek’s plans and business, which is dominated by SMEs. One of those is to speed up and facilitate transactions for Gojek users as well as Gojek merchants themselves.

“In the past, SMEs only provided bank transfer and COD (cash on delivery) payment options, now with the technology we have implemented payments via credit card to virtual accounts can also be done,” said Erwin.

Not only for partners who are members of the Gojek ecosystem, but other SMEs who run businesses independently can also take advantage of the technology developed by Midtrans. Even though its position is still part of Gojek, Midtrans has the freedom to create innovations and can be used by everyone.

Pandemic and supportive moves for SME

The pandemic situation automatically changes consumer behavior in general. Previously, people are accustomed to making transactions in cash, now the non-cash payment is increasingly rising in Indonesia. As a payment gateway platform, this situation allows their business to grow faster to be used by all SMEs.

“Obviously, we keep our main target, as an enabler for all SMEs included in the Gojek ecosystem. By creating innovations to technology to accelerate and facilitate their transactions,” said Erwin.

Currently, there are around 20 services or products offered by Midtrans. This solution can of course be more comprehensive if it is integrated with Gojek and all the ecosystems that are included in it.

“One of which is launching the #MelajuBersamaGojek campaign which is a campaign launched during the pandemic. With the tools we offer to SMEs, one of which is the Selly application, it can be useful for around 120 thousand SME partners who join the Gojek ecosystem,” Erwin said.

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Original article is in Indonesian, translated by Kristin Siagian

Corin Capital Invests in Webtrace’s Extended Seed Round

It only took five months, Webtrace announced another fresh fund from investors. It is Corin Capital’s venture capital that invests in Webtrace.

It was in early April that Webtrace received seed funding from Prasetia Dwidharma and Astra Ventures. The round has closed. However, Webtrace’s CEO & Co-Founder, Erwin Subroto explained that today’s announcement is an extension of yesterday’s seed funding.

“Actually it has [closed], but Corin Capital is just an extension round considering the strategic value given to Webtrace,” Erwin told DailySocial.

As the previous ones, Webtrace is also planning to use this new fund for three things: pursuing more aggressive marketing, acquiring more customers, and boosting sales.

Webtrace is a startup engaged in the logistics sector. Its service provides a platform to help truck fleet managers operate efficiently.

Webtrace implements its services through the installation of sensors and the internet of things (IoT) solutions. With this technology, truck managers can explore various data and analyses in real-time. Eventually, they will be able to manage and maximize the utility of the vehicle, driver, and eliminate unnecessary costs.

In April, Webtrace announced to acquire 3500 trucks in the onboarding process. Those who join Webtrace are said to have come from Sumatra, Java, Kalimantan, Madura, to Sulawesi. Erwin also said that the number of trucks listed on the platform has reached 2.5 times since then.

In terms of the target at the end of this year, Erwin said he was determined to grow to two times the current achievement. He also hopes that Webtrace can expand the solutions they offer especially for heavy equipment, agricultural machinery, as well as an integrated platform for cargo insurance.

“Webtrace is ready to lead the industry with unique solutions and comprehensive case studies, ensuring that existing solutions are effective in solving problems and challenges experienced by customers,” concluded Erwin.

Aside from Webtrace, there are several local startups working on similar solutions, democratizing logistics fleets with a touch of technology. One of those is Ritase, besides connecting companies with truck vendors, they are also offering SaaS for transportation and logistics management.

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Original article is in Indonesian, translated by Kristin Siagian

PasarPolis Announces Series B Funding Worth of 796 Billion Rupiah

PasarPolis insurtech startup announced the closing of its series B (oversubscribed) funding. Overall, the total investment was successfully booked at $ 54 million or equivalent to 796.7 billion Rupiah. Investors involved in this round are LeapFrog Investments, SBI Investment, Alpha JWC Ventures, Intudo Ventures, and Xiaomi.

This round is claimed to be the largest amount among insurtech startups in the region. Previously, several startups offering insurance services also received significant funding, for example from PolicyPal ($20 million) and CXA Group ($58 million) – both are Singapore based.

PasarPolis is to use the fresh funds to support and accelerate business growth. This includes units outside Indonesia, in Thailand and Vietnam. The inclusion of LeapFrog is said to help accelerate PasarPolis in reaching new insurance consumers through its regional network. Meanwhile, with Xiaomi, the company wants to create insurance technology that is more accessible and holistic.

In 2018, PasarPolis received series A funding from Gojek, Tokopedia, and Traveloka with an undisclosed value. The development of artificial intelligence and big data technologies was the main focus then, along with the expansion of partnerships and integration of services to several partner applications, including the three platforms becoming investors.

“Their (investors) support is a great validation of our positive impact in the industry and society,” said Cleosent Randing, the Co-Founder & CEO of PasarPolis.

One of the main strategies for PasarPolis is partnership-based, currently there are at least 25 digital company partners who help sell insurance products. Since 2018, the company claims to have experienced an 80-fold growth in monthly policies issued. The company also claims to have had a fourfold increase in the number of partners during the same period.

In his official statement, Fernanda Lima as Partner of LeapFrog Investments said, “With 30 insurance companies and 25 digital partners, (PasarPolis) has served more than 4 million new consumers in June 2020 [..] There is great potential for positive social impacts. writing provided to novice buyers of insurance services using digital ecosystems, digital payments, and mobile platforms. ”

It is showed in the Insurtech Report 2020 released by DSResearch that the insurance business support ecosystem in Indonesia is quite complete. In the digital realm, there are already several players. With a similar business model, PasarPolis has several direct competitors which can be seen in the chart below.

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Original article is in Indonesian, translated by Kristin Siagian

Application Information Will Show Up Here

Pandemic Creates Opportunity for Youtap to Accelerate Digitization in Traditional Retails

After officially launched last February, Youtap’s e-money processing platform and point-of-sales platform were hit by the fact that pandemic makes it difficult for SME owners to run their business. In order to solve this problem, the Youtap team jumped into the market and met target users to launch a campaign on the importance of using cashless and touchless system.

Through the campaign, YouTap claims to be able to increase adoption to 300%. Youtap Indonesia’s CEO, Herman Suharto said the company has been always consistent with the vision to be present at every level of business in helping and empowering business actors to get the best achievements.

“We present appropriate technology that can help businesses obtain comprehensive digital business solutions in just one application. We are sure that the Youtap Trade Application will make our merchant partners, especially SMEs, be more productive in developing their business,” he said.

Youtap currently has 50 thousand merchant partners and has processed around 1 million transactions. The target is, Youtap can acquire around 1 million merchants throughout Indonesia by the end of 2020. They also plan to expand their partnerships with financial services to big brands like McDonald’s and others.

“Big brands such as McDonald’s have also experienced our services during the pandemic. We have succeeded in increasing their sales by implementing e-vocabulary which facilitates the purchase and payment process at outlets,” Herman said.

Regarding the competitive landscape, Youtap is dealing with many players. For example LinkAja, currently, they are helping to optimize the distribution of services for market and hawkers. Other applications, such as Dana, are also maneuvering to rely on QRIS, which is currently being intensified its penetration. In terms of POS, Indonesia already has several services, starting from Moka and Nadipos which already involved in Gojek group, also Qasir, Pawoon, and others.

Regarding financial records, recently new startups have also appeared, for example, BukuWarung and BukuKas. Both of them have secured pre-series A funding to expand their business throughout Indonesia, targeting micro retailers.

Conventional retail digitization will also take a long time. It must be comprehensive and form an ecosystem, which means not only from the merchant side to be facilitated but also from the side of the consumer. Meanwhile, the trend in the e-money service adoption among the public continues to increase. The thing is, there are more and more players with very tight competition.

Merchant-centric app

Claiming as more than an ordinary cashier platform, Youtap in Indonesia comes from a joint venture between the Salim Group and Youtap Global, a technology company from New Zealand. Through the application, all UKM owners can easily make financial reports, collect data, and even personalize notification features.

“This notification works similarly to a chat app like WhatsApp. Every morning we remind the number of sales from stalls or business owners so they can be more enthusiastic about running a business every day,” Head of Product Development Youtapm, M. Syaiful Anam said.

Although the Basic option can be accessed for free, users who want to enjoy various additional features and special tools can choose how to subscribe. In addition to making the process easier and faster, Youtap also continues to receive input from merchants, related to new features or tools that merchants want and of course need. Starting from home delivery to the process of promoting digitally to a wider target customer.

“We have already realized one of the feedbacks, and we plan to launch a new feature in the next month that can be useful for merchants during this pandemic,” Syaiful said.

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Original article is in Indonesian, translated by Kristin Siagian

Application Information Will Show Up Here

PayLater Fintech Startup EmpatKali Is Acquired by Similar Service, to Expand Payment Segment

The fintech lending startup EmpatKali is entirely acquired by a similar player from Australia, Afterpay. This corporate action also marks the official entry of Afterpay to Indonesia, as one of the countries on their list.

In DailySocial’s interview with EmpatKali’s CEO Jamie Camidge, he said he could not reveal the value of this transaction. However, he confirmed that Afterpay LTD had acquired the shareholder of PT Empat Kali Indonesia, effectively taking over the controlling interest in EmpatKali.

In terms of management, it is also certain that there is no change in structure, such as placing Afterpay representatives into the company internals. “Afterpay requires existing directors to continue to build businesses in the future. We are very excited to continue to lead this business through the next stage of growth,” he explained, Monday (8/31).

The interest of Afterpay with EmpatKali is supported by the similarities of each other’s business. Both of them do not take service fees charged to consumers as interest, but rather charge merchants in the form of commissions for every transaction using EmpatKali as a payment method.

“We think this model is much more attractive to consumers because it is interest-free for up to 90 days. This approach is quite unique and in our opinion, suitable for Indonesian consumers, especially those who want to avoid usury. ”

Afterpay was founded in 2014 and is one of the leading players in the world with 10 million active users, majorly coming from Australia and the United States. Afterpay takes interest in Indonesia, apart from having lucrative potential, of course as more expansive business development through EmpatKali.

Not only EmpatKali, but Afterpay also acquired similar companies in the target country, such as Pagantis which based in Europe.

Future plans

Camidge continued, the company will continue to innovate with features and services to reach more merchants in the future. When you look at the official website, the company has partnered with more than 100 local merchants engaged in fashion and accessories.

The company focuses on supporting premium local brands, such as Brodo, Aleza, and Deuce ex Machina that design, build and sell their own products. “These small and medium-sized partners are truly world-class and have the added value of generating economy across their supply chains in Indonesia.”

For the next step, he admitted that EmpatKali would form partnerships with international brands. Then expand the installment segment for medical, dental, insurance, aviation, hotel, and gadget needs.

“We really believe in focus. We want to be preferred by Indonesians to pay for their favorite goods without interest. ”

Regarding the impact of the pandemic, he admitted that the company gains quite a positive impact. As sales have now shifted from offline to online stores, growth has remained stable. Unfortunately, Camidge is reluctant to back up his statement with numbers.

“We have been monitoring our loss rate and are now adjusting our risk machine to ensure risk management is maintained because we want to grow in a sustainable manner,” he concluded.

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Original article is in Indonesian, translated by Kristin Siagian

Kominfo Launches “Startup Studio” to Support Early-Stage Startup Business Acceleration

The Ministry of Communication and Information strives to complete the variant of digital startup empowerment programs in Indonesia. After the previous “National 1000 Startup Digital Movement” for founders for the ideation stage and “Next Indonesia Unicorn” for later-stage startups, Kominfo now presents a “Startup Studio” program for startups in the middle of the two stages. It is for early-stage startups starting to accelerate their business scale.

Startup Studio Indonesia aims to facilitate business growth through a variety of supports. It is focused on five things, product and team acceleration, validation of fundraising strategies, validation of growth marketing strategies, support for technology development, and sharpening business capabilities.

Director General of Kominfo Informatics Applications, Semuel Abrijani Pangerapan said to DailySocial, his team will select 20 startups for the first stage of Startup Studio. Overall, this program targets to gather around 300 startups by 2024.

In the curation process, Kominfo involved several parties. “Startup Studio Indonesia has formed a professional curatorial board consisting of various stakeholders in the tech startup ecosystem. Indeed, the decision of the curator board is absolute, without any intervention from anywhere.”

More brainstorming, less classes

Regarding its unique values, Semuel said “More brainstorming, less classes. Seeing the many sources of information about startups on the internet, we reduce the portion for the class format and prioritize two-way brainstorming with coaches.”

Each selected startup founder will be matched with a mentor according to the pain points they face in developing their business. “We believe founders need to have two-way discussions with experts in various fields, such as products, fundraising, growth hacking, people and culture, and others,” Semuel added.

In the practice, pitching sessions to investors will be held periodically for 4 weeks and on a one-on-one basis. Every week, the startup will be pitching with at least 2 investors. It is expected to strengthen the network between startups and potential investors.

Mechanism and criteria

The Startup Studio Indonesia program runs intensively for 3 months. It consists of three main lines, Founder’s Camp, 1-on-1 Mentoring, and Networking. The first event, Founder’s Camp, is a series of mentoring or brainstorming with industry players, discussing the practical knowledge that founders should master to expand their business scale.

Next, 1-on-1 Mentoring is a private session per startup to get consultation and execution supervision with the experts. Finally, Networking, an effort to expand the network to dozens of venture capitalists and leaders in related industries.

The agenda is scheduled as follows:

Timeline program Startup Studio 2020 / Kominfo — Startup Studio 2020 timeline / Kominfo

In general, the startups’ criteria are those who have reached a product-market fit, as proven by traction. This includes getting angel, pre-seed, seed, or maximum pre-series A funding. Although this is open to all landscapes, Kominfo prioritizes startups in the fields of education, health, maritime, agriculture, tourism, and logistics.

Kominfo also emphasized that this program is open to anyone, not only for the alumni of the 1000 Startup program that has been previously implemented.

“We open up opportunities for all early-stage startups that are in line with the listed participant criteria. If the registrant startup is a graduate of 1000 Startups, of course this is a plus point for us. However, this does not guarantee that the registrant startup has a special portion,” he said. Semuel.

For more information and registration, visit: https://startupstudio.id/.

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Original article is in Indonesian, translated by Kristin Siagian

SIRCLO Announces Series B Funding Worth of 88 Billion Rupiah

SIRCLO, an e-commerce enabler developer startup, today (28/8) announced the Series B funding worth of $6 million or equivalent to 88 billion Rupiah. Investors involved in this round include East Ventures, OCBC NISP Ventura, Skystar Capital, Sinar Mas Land, and several other names that were not mentioned.

SIRCLO’s Founder & CEO, Brian Marshal said the fresh funds will be focused on strengthening internal infrastructure. “Through this funding, we will continue to improve our capabilities and reach, therefore, we can help more brands in Indonesia. We are also optimistic that online shopping transactions will continue to increase in the future, even after the pandemic ends.”

Business expansion continues amid the rapid growth of the e-commerce market. SIRCLO continues to add new fulfillment centers and improve features of the SIRCLO Store (including the brand activation platform, marketplace, and chat commerce).

“SIRCLO is at the right time and position in this pandemic. With the developed capabilities before the pandemic, SIRCLO is helping to accelerate the digital transformation that is taking place in this country,” Willson Cuaca, Co-founder and Managing Partner at East Ventures explained.

Brands that have been relying on traditional sales channels have been encouraged to enter online platforms in order to reach more consumers. The SIRCLO Insights 2020 e-commerce report estimates 12 million new e-commerce users since the pandemic, 40% of which is said to continue to rely on e-commerce even after the pandemic ended.

The competition in this business segment is actually quite tight. Apart from SIRCLO, there are already several other platforms rolling similar business in Indonesia. Some of those are local players such as Jubelio, Jet Commerce, and IDMarco; or several regional players such as aCommerce, Perpule, Anchanto, and others. The value proposition is clearly required, by providing additional value that can help merchant partners increase their business.

Business Initiatives

Founder & Co-Founder SIRCLO: Leontius, Brian, dan Andreas / SIRCLO — SIRCLO’s Founder & Co-Founder: Leontius, Brian, and Andreas / SIRCLO

Apart from its main products, SIRCLO also continues to improve its services. Last year, they launched Connexi, a SaaS platform with multi-channel e-commerce management features. SIRCLO claims that Connexi has been widely used by the FMCG brand to manage online sales in SIRCLO Commerce.

Meanwhile, their core service remains SIRCLO Commerce, which is a platform that facilitates the entire online sales process: from stock management, ordering processes, product delivery, to customer service. Brands can manage online sales through the marketplace, chat commerce such as Whatsapp Business, or their own website.

In May 2020, SIRCLO announced a merger with e-commerce technology and solutions provider agency Icube. This corporate action has helped to unite thousands of their clients, as well as unite the strengths of both parties to help more businesses and brands carry out digital transformation.

After the merger, Founder & President Icube Muliadi Jeo assumed the position of CTO of SIRCLO. Leontius Adhika Pradhana as CTO previously changed his position to CPO. In addition, last June the company also welcomed the appointment of a new COO, Danang Cahyono. Danang was previously the Managing Director at Westcon-Comstor Indonesia.

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Original article is in Indonesian, translated by Kristin Siagian

Logistics Platform Prahu-Hub Provides Easy Cross-Island Delivery

The high cost of domestic shipping is one of the reasons why the Prahu-Hub digital logistics platform was established. Established in 2017, they exist as a marketplace designed to help Indonesians who want to send goods using containers.

Prahu-Hub’s Founder, Benny Sukamto told DailySocial that currently, domestic shipping costs are quite expensive and difficult than international shipping. The high cost of logistics will certainly affect the weakening of domestic trade power and increase dependence on foreign countries.

“Prahu-Hub exists as a marketplace that brings together domestic cross-island shippers (shippers) and shipping service providers (expedition, shipping, and trucking). From orders that occur in our marketplace, administrative fees will be charged to our partners, in case this is a delivery service provider,” Benny said.

In particular, Prahu-Hub focuses only on domestic cross-island shipments. This is what distinguishes Prahu-Hub services from other logistics services.

To date, Prahu-hub has more than 400 shippers who have used the service, and every week the website is visited by 1500 potential shippers. Prahu-Hub delivery services cover Sabang to Merauke. Prahu-Hub has also served more than 900 users who have used the platform as their trusted freight service.

In order to accelerate business growth, the company is yet to plan for fundraising. However, Prahu-Hub is quite open for the right investors to join together to build the Prahu-Hub business.

“For fundraising, we have not specifically planned. But we are starting a discussion with investors who share our view and want to grow together,” he added.

Pandemic and Alibaba Netpreneur

Founder Prahu-Hub Benny Sukamto — Prahu-Hub’s Founder, Benny Sukamto

Being asked about what Prahu-Hub’s business growth was like during the pandemic, Benny emphasized that logistics is one of the sectors that can survive this pandemic. However, the availability of goods and demand for goods has indeed decreased outside the island, not only in Java during this pandemic. Therefore, it quite affects the volume of shipments between islands.

In 2019, Prahu-Hub was selected to join the Alibaba Netpreneur from Indonesia. Prahu-Hub has gained a lot of experience, a startup founded by Benny Sukamto, after ten years living and working in the United States in the business intelligence software sector, he returned to Indonesia and developed his logistics business.

“By participating in Netpreneur training class #1 from Indonesia at Alibaba’s head office, I gained a lot of experience building a startup and transforming a brick and mortar company into a digital company to survive in the long run,” Benny said.

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Original article is in Indonesian, translated by Kristin Siagian

Opportunities for Disney+ Hotstar Platform in Indonesia

Disney announced a strategic move in mid-August by launching Disney+ Hotstar’s Video on Demand (VOD) service (referred to as Disney+) in Indonesia on September 5th. Indonesia became the first country in Southeast Asia to get this opportunity and number two in Asia after India.

Indonesia was chosen due to its large population and high potential for business development in this sector. Over the years, Indonesian consumers prefer television as their primary medium. According to Statista, it is estimated that in 2020 there will be around 35.9 million users of Indonesia’s VOD services (13% of the population) who will contribute up to $275 million (around 4 trillion Rupiah) of revenue this year. The annual increase in these two metrics is quite healthy and there is still room for growth.

In addition, the fact that the Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated the adoption of VOD services becomes one of the main entertainment sources of the community.

In order to support its business in Indonesia, Disney+ partners with Telkomsel (Telkom Group) as the launching partner. This service also made a breakthrough with the availability of more than 300 local content, including the exclusive ones. They understand the value of product localization to attract consumers in this competitive market.

Telkom Group as the first local partner

Gandeng Telkomsel, operator telekomunikasi terbesar di Indonesia — Disney+ Hotstar partners with Telkomsel as a launching partner

Disney+ applies a different approach. In contrary to Netflix, which is confident without any special ceremonial yet offers easy payments outside of debit and credit cards, they try to be more “down to earth”.

In order to reach a wider audience, Disney+ partners with Telkom Group, Telkomsel in particular, as a launching partner. Interestingly, the largest state-owned telco company in Indonesia had blocked Netflix on its network for about 4.5 years for business reasons.

Consumers have an alternative way of paying for services, by charging credit/carrier billing, facilitated with a very competitive first 3-month subscription fee (read: very cheap).

Telkomsel users can enjoy a Pre-Order Special Offer for IDR 15,000 for one month or IDR 30,000 for three months. In addition, Disney+ subscribers can subscribe to Rp39 thousand per month or Rp199 thousand per year.

The price offered by Disney + is clearly competitive compared to other global and regional services. This price is more affordable than the cheapest Netflix package (mobile package) and slightly different from the package offered by Viu.

Then, Disney+ playbook is quite down to earth around here. They understand that Indonesian consumers are very price-sensitive, especially for tertiary services like VOD.

“Indonesia’s dynamic and tech-savvy population has a passion for quality local entertainment content and is also home to some of the biggest Disney fans in the region. We are confident by working with Telkomsel, Disney + Hotstar [..] can capture lots of Indonesian viewers,” Uday Shankar, President of The Walt Disney Company Asia Pacific said.

Original content

Joko Anwar, Christine Hakim, Dimas Anggara, dan Jefri Nichol dari BLU — Joko Anwar, Christine Hakim, Dimas Anggara, and Jefri Nichol from BCU

The presence of original content, which adapts to local trends, is one of the keys to seizing the Indonesian market. While not unique, Disney+ tries the same approach in a different way.

They tried to present more than 300 Indonesian films. There are seven new Indonesian films to be released exclusively. In particular, Disney+ announced a collaboration with Bumilangit Cinematic Universe (BCU). Through this collaboration, Bumilangit will later be broadcast on its service streaming channel after rolling in theaters.

BCU, often referred to as the Indonesian Avengers, is a storyline that is connected to one another based on characters who are members of Bumilangit, a leading character-based entertainment company in Indonesia that manages more than 1000 characters created by many legendary Indonesian comic artists. BCU made its debut with Gundala which was among the top 10 highest-grossing films in Indonesia last year.

Tight competition in VOD sector

The natural selection occured in the VOD segment, especially in this year, proves that the VOD platform competition is quite intense in the region – including in Indonesia. Hooq was forced to close services, whereas iflix had to sell its business to Chinese digital giant Tencent.

However, this momentum is an opportunity for VOD players to better understand the character Indonesian consumers. Currently, it is a fact that the top three VOD segments in Indonesia are controlled by Viu, Netflix, and Vidio. The three of them carry different segmentations.

Viu represents the audience-oriented in Asia, especially South Korea. Netflix represents global content viewers (although most of them are still dominated by Hollywood content), while Vidio has strength in the local and sports segments.

It is intriguing to observe how compatible Disney+ will be to compete with existing players. The recipe they brought was just about right: availability of local content, a down-to-earth payment system, affordable prices, and engaging global content.

We are waiting for the execution of this recipe to spoil the eyes of the Indonesian audience.

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Amir Karimuddin contributed to the writing of the original article in Indonesian, translated by Kristin Siagian