There are no doubts about startup players in Indonesia. Marlin R. Siahaan, CEO of Telkomsel Mitra Innovation (TMI), claims that local startups have huge potential in Asia, not inferior to China.
At least this is in line with reports from Google, Temasek, and Bain & Company, the potential for the digital economy in Indonesia in 2025 will reach US$113 billion.
In 2019, Indonesia's digital economy was recorded as the largest in Southeast Asia, with a value of US$40 billion. This means that within 6 years, the country's digital economy has grown almost 3 times. This condition is inseparable from Indonesia's population and digital adoption in society.
"This actually can also be a strong justification that Indonesia has strong potential, and players in it should also have confidence and be positive about this record, especially for local startups who have a great opportunity to go global to bring the country's good name, one of which is We know that Kredivo and TMI are happy to support them,” said Marlin, in an executive talk show with Uday Rayana entitled 'Potential of Local Start-ups in the 5G Era'.
For the record, the credit distribution platform, Kredivo has announced the company's plan to conduct a merger, followed by an initial public offering (IPO).
This began with the planned merger of Kredivo with VPC Impact Acquisition Holdings II as a Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) supported by Victory Park Capital. VPCB has already completed the IPO (Initial Public Offering) process in March 2021 on the NASDAQ United States exchange. The merger is currently entering a definitive agreement for their business merger, which will later bring FinAccel (Kredivo's parent company) to a public company.
The proforma equity valuation is in the range of US$2.5 billion or Rp. 36 trillion (exchange rate of Rp. 14,400), assuming no redemption, is predicted to generate more than 30 million gross revenue for FinAccel.
"This is also inseparable from our partner Telkom in this regard, as a sister who both builds ecosystems so that it is easier to develop, then carry out a joint investment process so that the venture is stronger, and I believe there will be other startup companies, outside Kredivo that can be growing big again bringing Indonesia's name globally," he said.
TMI has invested approximately USD 40 million in several fast-growing startups in Indonesia, including Kredivo, PrivyID, Qlue, Halodoc, Tanihub, Tada, SiCepat, Inspigo, and Feedloop.
Also read: Indonesia Needs Fintech Experts and Startup Founders to Become Digitalpreneurs.
TMI itself also continues to invest in future solutions that focus on trade and advertising, media and entertainment, connecting devices and hardware, data and analytics, and networks and infrastructure.
So far, TMI has also been active in accelerating the growth of startups in these sectors by utilizing Telkomsel's resources, accelerating innovation (accelerate), providing additional funds to maximize business potential (additional funds), and connecting startups with other investor ecosystems (affiliates).
