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SPOTLIGHT:
The Rise of Indonesia's Tech Ecosystem
With recent investments from
Google, Facebook, and Microsoft
making headlines, Indonesia's tech
scene exploded onto the world
stage in 2020. Meanwhile, the
country's digital economy is taking
off with 40 million new internet
users last year alone, leading
many — including us — to predict
that international attraction to
Southeast Asia's largest economy
is only just getting started. Now,
with the $18B Gojek and Tokopedia
merger becoming a reality, we
believe more U.S. investors will
"discover" what is happening in
Southeast Asia's digital economy
— and particularly in Indonesia.
Following in the footsteps of SEA
Group (NYSE:SE) — currently the
only Southeast Asian tech company
listed on a U.S. exchange
— we predict at least
2–3 Indonesian tech
companies will
seek to go public
in the U.S.
within the next
12 months,
including
the first
dual-listing
IPOs between
the U.S. and
Indonesia.
That "something big" is
underway Indonesia's tech
ecosystem is not surprising;
but it is a remarkably different
reality than only ten years ago.
"Unlike today, venture capital was
non-existent in Indonesia in 2009,"
says Aldi Haryopratomo, one of our
first Endeavor Entrepreneurs — and
a successful serial entrepreneur -
in Indonesia. "Trying to get advice
on how to build a startup was
impossible." It makes sense — only
7% of the population in Indonesia
was online in 2009, compared
to the 70% internet penetration
today. This 10x growth has
opened up a world of possibilities
for hopeful entrepreneurs and
technology investors alike.
Aldi has been there at every step
of Indonesia's tech transformation,
and despite Indonesia's nascent
entrepreneurship ecosystem at
the time, Aldi's is a success story.
Aldi built his first startup, Mapan,
in 2009. And in 2017, Mapan and
two other Indonesian fintech
companies were acquired by Gojek,
an Indonesian ride hailing unicorn.
Gojek was on its way to becoming
a superapp, and wanted to build a
payments and financial services
arm. As part of the acquisition,
Aldi became CEO of Gopay.
