East Ventures Raises $30m for Indonesian Startups
Jakarta. Global venture capital firm East Ventures announced on Thursday (21/09) that it has raised $30 million for seed capital and early-stage financing of Indonesian startups.
"East Ventures aims to empower local small to medium businesses by building the local ecosystem to support the country's growth," the company said in a statement.
In its sixth investment funding, which is managed by East Ventures partners Wilson Cuaca, Batara Eto and Taiga Matsuyama, the company focuses on Indonesia in a bid to empower young entrepreneurs in the digital sector.
Indonesia's strong macroeconomic outlook and favorable demography have been attracting more investment, says global management consulting firm A.T. Kearney, according to which from January to August investment deals reached $3 billion, 60 times more compared with the same period in 2012. Between 2012 and 2017, 244 companies completed 381 deals in the country.
As one of the most active investors, East Ventures made 192 deals, around half of all, in Indonesia's technology sector. At least 70 percent of the country's startups received their seed capital and early-stage financing from East Ventures.
The company has invested in 116 companies, of which 96 attracted follow-on investment.
East Ventures backed Indonesia's unicorns (startups worth more than $1 billion) such as ride-hailing service Go-Jek, e-commerce company Tokopedia, online ticket-booking company Traveloka, online-to-offline payment service Kudo, co-working space EV Hive, beauty products marketplace Sociolla and online marketplace for tutors Ruangguru.
This year, East Ventures-funded companies saw significant deals, including a $1.1 billion tech giant Alibaba-led investment in Tokopedia, a $500 million Expedia-led investment in Traveloka, acquisition of Kudo by Grab, and acquisition of ticketing platform Loket by Go-Jek.
The company says it has collaborated with the government and local firms in its sixth investment funding.
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