Tag: investor

New Fund Structure in the Field

Posted on | by Aisha Nadira | Leave a Comment on New Fund Structure in the Field

This article is written based on the discussion note on Tinc Investor Networking.

Visit Tinc Investor Networking Main Page here.

The Rising of New Funds

Indonesian startup ecosystem and venture capital industry has been growing for over 10+ years. Despite the economic slowdown due to the pandemic, the Indonesian Venture Capital and Startup Association (Amvesindo) data show that US$1.9 billion in capital has been raised by 52 start-ups in Indonesia as of September 2020.

The association expects the year-end figure to reach US$2 billion, which would be lower than last year’s $2.9 billion in capital raised by 113 start-ups. At the same time, VCs’ assets rose 15.9 percent year-on-year to Rp 18.9 trillion ($1.3 billion) as of September compared to Rp 16.3 trillion over the same period in 2019, according to Financial Services Authority (OJK) data [1].

According to data from DealStreetAsia, Indonesia absorbed the biggest share of the $2.7 billion in fundraising deals booked in Southeast Asia in the second quarter of 2020 at 45.8 percent. Singapore came second with 33.2 percent of the deals, while Vietnam followed with 7.9 percent [2]. 

With the room for growth, the VC industry is still in its infancy stage whereas the th industry emerged around 2010. Currently there are Misalignment of incentives, and too often an intent to control the venture’s direction because of immaturity of the ecosystem across the investor spectrum. There are also less adequate models of business wherass the country’s well documented talent paucity generates too little. With that being said, venture capital structures have also grown to adapt to be able to support the needs of the market.

More foreign investors are coming to Indonesia and applying several new approaches, strategies, and structure to better support the market opportunity. Existing VC structures are not able to fill the gap existing in the ecosystem, hence new structures are needed to address the financial gaps like venture studio funds, revenue share funds, corporate venture capitals (CVCs), Angel Investment Vehicles, for example Beacon Fund, Founders First Capital Partners, Antler, and New Energy Nexus, etc.

Increasing Trends: Corporate Venture Capitals

Structures like corporate venture capital in Indonesia predominately sought funding from local investors. According to Badan Koordinasi Penanaman Modal (BKPM) or the Indonesian Investment Board data estimated foreign investments (Foreign Direct Investment) to the digital sector until January 2020 was ke sektor around $1,3-2,4 billion or  about 15%-20% from total foreign direct investment that came in amounting of  $9-12 billion each year [3].

With the room for growth, more CVCs are fundraising from foreign investors. State owned Bank CVCs such as  MDI Ventures, Mandiri Capital Indonesia (MCI), and BRI Ventures are leading the trend. On the other hand, family backed investment arm such as Prasetia Dwidharma is focusing on deploying investments to startups with potential strategic alignment with their business, whilst also stepping in as venture partner in state owned CVCs such as MDI, where Arya Setiadharma (CEO of Prasetia Dwidharma) act as a venture partner since 2019. By accessing foreign investment and synergies with other family offices investment arm, an increase of activity of investment should follow.

In comparison, in the United States, Corporate VCs as a group were involved in 23 percent of all investment deals made in external startups in 2018 [4]. Pegasus Tech Ventures partner, Justin Patrick who participated in the discussion shared;

Although there are lots of room for corporations to jump into VC, however strategic, these corporate investors will still have different KPIs compared to independent VCs.
Justin Patrick
Pegasus Tech Ventures

New Breed of Investors Coming In

We have seen new structures of funds (not the typical LP/GP structure). We have seen CVCs and we are seeing more experienced entrepreneurs venturing to build a small fund and act as catalysts such as Init-6 Fund and Kopi Kenangan Fund. These news structures will also affect the different fees and structuring in the fund, especially when it comes to the different fees and structuring between early and growth stage funds.

Capital requirement is very different from pre series to growth stage. Justin Patrick illustrates that in Indonesia, seed round of $ 1 million size of fund can deploy to up to 20 investments. With a Series B round with the size of $ 20 million, the participating General Partner (GP) needs a fund size of  $ 200 – 300 million.

However, Sagar, the ex-founding member of IWEF and the moderator of the discussion mentioned that GP also has different competencies, thus the said structure is not always what we see in Indonesia and arguably not always the most applicable structure.

Despite the structure that we know as metioned by Justin, the GP structure is not always the case. Every GP also brings different competencies.
Sagar Tandon
Moderator

Talent Investing Funds

We have also seen talent investing funds in the start up industry such as Antler, New Energy Nexus, and TMI with tinc as their accelerator counterpart under the Indonesian biggest state owned telecom company, Telkomsel. Their strategy also includes investing in promising talents however, the SVP of TMI, Andi Kristianto shares a concern around talent paucity in the market thus hindering them to deploy available capital. He stated that there’s a need of supporting and securing the sustainability of the idea seeded from incubators or accelerators.

Accelerator or incubators like Tinc can be an entry point. We see early-stage companies have great ideas and are able to position a good pricing. However, the talents has to have the agility to create more innovations in order to move to a larger stage and they should gain this support from accelerators and incubators.
Andi Kristianto
SVP Corporate Strategy and Strategic Investment, Telkomsel

Venture Studios

With that being said, the need for a venture structure that provides capacity building support and management is greatly needed. That’s why  another structure that is also becoming much more popular is Venture Studios, which is a new emerging innovation in the field of venture capital. It’s a very close structure to the high-touch venture-capital model, which follows a concentrated portfolio strategy and provides beyond capital support, primarily value-added services and human capital.

The structure show promising future due to the three distinctive characteristics which make it attractive which are 

  1. Increase ownership in the venture
  2. Increase participation in the enterprise, and hence
  3. Increase the chances of success. The exit rate is higher in studios (~ 35%) than in accelerators (~ 20%), which seems to confirm that a venture created by a studio fails less often than any other venture. According to the GSSN, a studio startup can achieve TVPIs of 10 [5].


Aside from increasing the success rate, there is a high opportunity to increase Impact. Building tech-ventures in the impact spaces are generally ignored by tech ventures and entrepreneurs, as they are still catering to the top 1% of the population. The venture studios allow these impact driven businesses to grow. In the discussion, Sagar mentioned several types of venture studios and potential structures or model [6]

Types of Venture Studios and potential structures and models

  1. Internal Ideas and team: The studio team comes up with an original idea to build a venture.
    Model: VC Fund structure, Concentrated portfolio, and VC High-portfolio support
  2. Investing and building with a talent/founder: Venture Studio acts like a founder or supporting-founder (Chameleon) to construct the venture from scratch.
    Model: VC Fund structure, Concentrated portfolio, and VC High-portfolio support
  3. Cross-border replication: The studio replicates ventures from one geography to another by creating a joint venture with the parent company and investors.
    Model:
    (i) Venture Studio creates a new entity or SPV, which splits equity with the parent company and any new investors if able to onboard.
    (ii) The money from investors and IP, money, and other resources from the parent company will kick-start the operation.
    (iii) From there on, Venture Studio takes the ownership of contextualizing the product, hiring & managing the talent, finding product-market-fit, GTM fit, and, most importantly, running the core business.
  4. Corporate venture studios: Venture Studio sees itself as an extension of corporate-innovation and acts explicitly as corporate-venture-studio.
    Model:
    (i) Venture Studio identifies potential clients and goes with a proposition to build a venture for them, which is strategically aligned to their core business or operation.
    (ii) Venture Studio expects a certain amount of capital infusion initially, for which the corporates enjoy a healthy equity percentage. The venture will be built from scratch by Venture Studio.

Looking to the Future

The venture capital industry in Indonesia is still evolving and growing. We have seen positive movements and an increase of interest from foreign and domestic investors, as well as increasing capital commitment to Indonesia startup ecosystem. 

New generations of investors are taking up the space led by investors with different backgrounds, bringing in new fund approaches, structures, and models. We see CVC, entrepreneurs backed funds, and venture studios models emerging in Indonesia with a promising foundation. 

We see this as a positive trend of diversifying support systems for entrepreneurs to grow. With these new structures, it will eventually provide more entrepreneurs access to capital beyond just financial capital but also intellectual and social capital. We are confident to see more financial instruments in the future beyond equity investments, such as venture debts or syndication, to be able to have more flexibility in deploying capital.

End of article.

Participating investors in the discussion:

James Prananto
Co-Founder & CBD
Kopi Kenangan & Kenangan Fund

John Lotto
Investment Manager
C4D Partners

Justin Patrick
Venture Partner
Pegasus Tech Ventures

Maria Natashia
Investment Manager
PT Prasetia Dwidharma

Yudi Tandi Anugrah
Investment Manager
Kejora-SBI Orbit

Andi Kristianto
SVP Corporate Strategy and Strategic Investment, Telkomsel

This article is brought to you by:

Writer

Moderator

Aisha Nadira
Partnership Engagement Lead, ANGIN

Sagar Tandon
Industry Expert

Investing in Impact: Opportunities, Implementation, and Measurement

Posted on | by Aisha Nadira | Leave a Comment on Investing in Impact: Opportunities, Implementation, and Measurement

This article is written based on the discussion note on Tinc Investor Networking.

Visit Tinc Investor Networking Main Page here.

Demystifying impact investing myths around low financial return: The future of impact investing and the opportunities

The terms impact investment and social entrepreneurship were coined to define organizations that could reconcile the desire to create an impact while also having a commercial or financial intention. Beyond the intention, these organizations commit to measuring, evaluating, and reporting their impact to drive better decisions and strategies to achieve their social mission. This impact investment generation emerged in Indonesia in the early 2010′s [1]. Since its emergence, there was an underlying perception that impact investing was similar to philanthropy whereas impact investors yield lower financial return compared to commercial investors.

However, most studies report that Socially Responsible Investments (SRI) do not have lower returns than traditional investments. In fact, there is evidence of the opposite; most conclusions point to SRI having higher returns, especially when social impact is taken into account. A comprehensive review by the Royal Bank of Canada looked into over 40 major studies and found that there was no evidence that socially responsible investing resulted in lower investment returns [2]. This sentiment was echoed by the GIIN’s (Global Impact Investing Network) 2017 Annual Impact Investor Survey [3], which found that the majority of respondents achieved market-rate returns, with 91% claiming their returns met or exceeded their professional expectations.

A survey by Morgan Stanely released in 2018 [4] mentioned that 76% investors believe that a perception remains among some investors that sustainable investing requires a financial tradeoff, However, they claim the opposite, where 87% of respondents believe it is possible to achieve financial returns alongside a social or environmental impact. And 62% go even further, agreeing that it is possible to maximize returns while investing sustainably.

This perception was echoed by investors that participated in the Tinc Investor Networking Day:

Profit and purpose are not separate but complementary. Although we do not identify ourselves as an impact investor, Investible is exploring the idea of implementing a sustainability lens for our forthcoming fund.
Reena Sharma
Investible

Reena Sharma, Vice President of Investor Relations at Investible shared that Investible’s investment decisions are made based on financial performance for the company, while impact is used as an additional filter after an investment passes the desired financial profile. 

Beenext’s Partner, Faiz Rahman also added that there is an opportunity to maximise profit while implementing an impact lens. 

Beenext believes that scale has to come first and a good business is a business that directly tackles real problems in the society, thus creating impact. If the market is big enough for the business to scale and gain financial return, that means the impact created is also bigger.
Faiz Rahman
Beenext

Rexi Chritopher from init-6 fund shares the same value that Impact investing is a mindset: any startup that is challenging the status quo is working on creating impact.

Nowadays, most people are more aware of impact, for example with SDGs. In an optimistic lens, this is a great momentum for impact investors, especially because the new generation of founder is more aware of the importance of impact, hence apply it into their business.
Rexi Christopher
Init-6

Emphasizing on the context of “invest” in impact investment, it is necessary to distinguish impact investment from non-profit practices, such as donations or grants. The investor attendees on Tinc Investor Networking agree that financial returns and performance are still  key considerations behind impact investment decisions. This means that there is a fundamental distinction between for-profit, non profit, and for-profit with social mission, in which impact investment falls for the latter.

Measurement of Impact and ESG

Impact investments, as defined by GIIN’s (Global Impact Investing Network), are “investments made with the intention to generate positive, measurable social and environmental impact, alongside a financial return” [5]. The word ‘measure’ plays an interesting role in this ecosystem. As an investment is repayable finance, investors will want to see the evidence of financial return and revenue from the business. 

Yet in impact investment, the responsibility doubles up; both social and financial return are to be expected. This is what differentiates impact investors from mainstream investors or traditional funds. Impact investors want to know how investing into a business will enable them to create a positive impact on society, and in order to know, one has to measure.

"Impact investors share several core characteristics, including the use of evidence and impact data in investment design, the commitment to measure and manage impact, and the intention to pursue impact alongside a financial return."
GIIN, State of Impact Measurement and Management Practice (2020)

Measuring impact is indeed a complicated process, especially for early-stage business or startups. However, Kejora-SBI Orbit stated the importance of having at least one dedicated ESG officer that can measure impact within the scope of Environment, Social, and Governance (ESG). This statement is echoed in The S&P 500 ESG Index: Defining the Sustainable Core [6] as a signal of evolution in sustainable investing, built to underlie strategic, long-term mainstream investment products.

As Kejora looks into this index, they found out: impact investment actually follows where the money is.

Having a good impact is actually a good business. Meaning, companies that are more ESG compliant tend not to cut corners and therefore in the long run have possibilities to perform better. These companies are also more socially responsible and well-managed; these are the companies that investors want to invest in.
Kejora-SBI Orbit
Representative

ESG is an increasingly popular tool of measurement when it comes to sustainability efforts, and also to giving companies a space for improvement. Yet in practice, no matter how sophisticated the tool is, measurement is much easier at capturing quantifiable inputs, than complex and intangible outcomes, such as impacts [7]. For this reason, Kejora believes that in order to comprehend the outcomes and impacts, investors also need to go the extra mile to fully grasp the internal process. This starts with the due diligence process, and continues by using a method and metrics to measure impact within the portfolio, because it is necessary to capture the input-outcome-impacts, without assuming causality.

Since there are no uniformly accepted metrics, Beenext also sees that measuring impact requires doing more than just ESG measurement. In particular, Beenext emphasizes that impact investors have to be able to have skin in the game, put themselves on the field, and improvise with more grassroots practices.

We have to talk to startups directly and try to understand their business, mission, values, drive, and goals. Impact investors need to understand where the business is coming from and the core problem that they are trying to solve or disrupt.
Faiz Rahman
Beenext

Demands for ways to measure impact continue to grow and mature alongside the impact investing industry. According to the GIIN report on Impact Measurement and Management Practice (2020), over the past 2 years, the impact investment industry has greatly expanded its suite of approaches to measure impact; from data collection, aggregation, comparison, impact valuation, and benchmarking of impact results. Besides ESG, many tools and frameworks have been developed to help impact investors measure their impact, as seen on the figure below:

Most investors can use more than one framework, the common average is three. This development represents significant steps toward enabling investors to transparently and reliably measure and manage their impact [8].

Role of incubator and accelerators in the investing in impact scene

As one of the first “open door,” incubators and accelerators plays a critical role in developing a startup founder’s mentality regarding impact and business. As stated by Jockie Heruseon, VP Business Development of Telkomsel, incubators and accelerators also have the power as a gatekeeper; to set impact and social contribution as standard in the business ecosystem.

Accelerators and incubators have an important role to provide support, especially for very early stage (often pre-revenue) startups. Heruseon from Telkomsel shared his insight from years of experiences in the startup ecosystem;

Many startups from the early stage have trouble increasing the size of their operations to expand their impact. As they attempt to scale, they often struggle to reach more customers, attract talented human capital, and lock the right types of funding. At the same time, impact investors are interested in supporting these startups, but often have trouble finding investment-ready impact startups.
Jockie Heruseon
VP Business Development of Telkomsel

Telkomsel, the parent company of TINC has taken up the space on supporting the startups and companies to integrate in impact by creating NextDev platform. NextDev is an early stage digital startup search and development platform in Indonesia that is oriented towards social impact. The program ranges from competitions to incubator programs like the NextDev Academy as well as  the NextDev Summit.

Through similar programs, that are also encouraged by Tinc, founders can be introduced to open their mindset and integrate impact and sustainability lens as well as understand the benefit and importance of good governance that is advocated by the ESG. This will also allow startups to identify like minded investors to actually support and amplify their impact.

Resonated by The Rockefeller Foundation’s report on Impact Enterprise Acceleration, this is where accelerators and incubators like TINC are able to contribute as sort of a “matchmaker,” ensuring downstream impact VCs funds or other investors have access to a good deal-flow of investment-ready opportunities [9].

Looking to the Future

The impact business and impact investment extended its wings to emerge as a new conception of “Investing in impact,” where this impact becomes an arbitrage, an opportunity, a “new normal”– the smart investment to do on top of the right business and investment strategy [10]. 

Each player in the startup ecosystem has its own role, and therefore its own power. Investors provide the capital and the fuel, while incubators and accelerators play key roles in educating and building the mentality of the founders. All roles are equally crucial in the development of the whole impact ecosystem. 

In the future, we hope to see more incubators and accelerators occupying the impact space to create a supportive environment for impact driven startups and impact investment practice can grow.

We see that with the current trend, we will see a shift of mindset where impact is no longer a type of investment; but impact is investment.
Akhil Adler
Moderator

End of article.

Participating investors in the discussion:

Reena Sharma
VP Investor Relations
Investible

Faiz Rahman
Partner
Beenext

Rexi Christopher Investment Associate
Init-6

Jockie Heruseon
Vice President
Business Development

Kejora-SBI Orbit
by Kejora Capital & SBI Holdings

This article is brought to you by:

Writer

Writer

Moderator

Aisha Nadira
Partnership Engagement Lead, ANGIN

Yohana Parida
Partnership Engagement Associate, ANGIN

Akhil Adler
Ex-Investment Analyst
Teja Ventures

ANGIN’s Angel Investor: Ivan Kamadjaja

Posted on | by David Soukhasing | Leave a Comment on ANGIN’s Angel Investor: Ivan Kamadjaja

Welcoming our new Angel, Ivan Kamadjaja

Ivan Kamadjaja is an industry veteran with deep financial and logistics expertise. Leading Kamadjaja Group as their CEO, Ivan is keen on furthering technological advancements in logistics to increase productivity and customer satisfaction. With a focus on improving distribution movement for multiple companies, Ivan has raised standards of Kamadjaja Group through a decade and a half. Before taking the reigns of Kamadjaja Group, Ivan had made a career in financial auditing and consulting. In his personal time, Ivan has developed a passion in startup companies. In the past 3 years, Ivan has been an angel investor for several startups, by contributing his 15+ years of experience as highly impact entrepreneur, his business network, and by being mentor to them. Ivan is also active in many startup/scaleup related events as mentor, eg. EO Accelerator, Endeavor annual event, and 1000 Startup.

Retno Dewati: Southeast Asia Regional Manager of Fenox Venture Capital

Posted on | by David Soukhasing | 2 Comments on Retno Dewati: Southeast Asia Regional Manager of Fenox Venture Capital

Tell us about yourself.

My name is Retno Dewati and I’m currently the Southeast Asia regional manager of Fenox Venture Capital, a global venture capital firm headquartered in Silicon Valley. We are managing 1.5 billion dollars Asset Under Management  and we have eight offices globally, Silicon Valley, Japan, Jakarta, South Korea, Taiwan, China, Bangladesh, Middle East and Eastern Europe. I’m responsible for the investment deal sourcing and business development for Southeast Asia.

Fenox was established in 2011 and so far we’ve already invested in over 110 companies across the globe. In Southeast Asia we have invested in over 35 companies. And I’m not only investing directly from Fenox, but also working together with my LP from Japan – Infocom Corporation. We are running another program called GnB Accelerator, which invests in pre-seed startups. Currently we’re running the fourth batch. So yeah, the journey has been interesting so far and I’m really excited to be working in this industry.

How did you get started in the venture capital industry?

Before I joined Fenox, I worked in a US-Indonesia Bilateral Organization. It’s a nonprofit organization focused on strengthening US-Indonesia relations. I worked there for nine months but quickly realized it wasn’t my passion. Later on, I found out that the startup ecosystem in Indonesia is growing, and a lot of foreign venture capital, a lot of funds are trying to invest in Indonesia. So I tried finding opportunities, how I could truly contribute or get involved in this growing ecosystem. Fenox happened to be looking for investment analysts, so I applied and got the position.

To be honest, on the first day I joined the company, they gave me some financial projections and reports of a startup. And I was like, what?! (laughs) Seriously, I didn’t know what it was. My investment manager asked me, “What do these projections mean? Do you think that this financial projection makes sense?” And I told him that my background is international relations, that I learned nothing about finance or accounting, but that I would challenge myself to learn. And I thought to myself, “I think I can do this.”

So yeah, my first week at Fenox was filled with very intensive training. They showed me how to read the financial projection, how to read a financial report and how to analyze the business of the startups. I found it to be extremely interesting. At the same time, our government was also trying to focus on the digital economy. So I was thinking, why not stay in this industry so that I can contribute more?

I know that this industry is male-dominated, but it doesn’t mean that females cannot stand out. So yeah. I am staying in the company, doing a lot of research for the startup ecosystem, for the market, and how startups do business. I’m so happy that I’ve stayed with Fenox. I built my career from scratch, joining in November 2015 before I graduated as an analyst. Later on in November 2016, a month after I graduated, I became a senior investment analyst. Most recently, in March 2017, I was promoted to Southeast Asia regional manager. What I’m trying to say here is that age and gender don’t matter at all. All that matters is if you have the passion and you challenge yourself, if you work on it, you’ll definitely prove to your company and to the whole ecosystem that you as a woman can stand out. Even in this male-dominated industry.

What kind of work did you have to put in to get to where you are?

When I first started, I was focused on deal sourcing, due diligence, and the LP report. So I gave some good deals to my investment committee and my LPs. I also challenged myself and told my boss that I think if I’m only doing this kind of thing – investment reports – I won’t go anywhere. I know that being a good investment manager is important, but I think being the face of the company is also way more important if you want to make the name of the company bigger. Investing in good startups isn’t enough, so we have to go out, you have to speak and then you have to be more engaged with the ecosystem, with the startup. So yeah, I gave a lot of good like investment recommendations.

I also manage the operations for the Southeast Asian office. Back then my boss was actually the regional manager before me. He left the company to go back to Japan and at that time my boss thought I was the right person to replace the position instead of hiring a senior-level person. And to be honest, when they promoted me to be the regional manager, I was also surprised. I was thinking, “Will I really be able to manage this responsibility?” Like dude, I was 23 years old! I knew that it wasn’t going to be easy because I’d be responsible for the whole Southeast Asia. I’d have to fly to other countries looking for deals, speaking at tech events.

But I just told myself, okay, I think I can do it if they believe I can do, and if I believe I can do it. And I did. So now I spend about 70 percent of my time for business development rather than for investment. Because for investment I’ve been there done that. So now I give it to my analysts and associates, and now my focus is become the face of the company, doing everything from marketing, business development, networking, finding partnerships with any stakeholders in the startup ecosystem, looking for potential LPs, and working with both the government and the private sector together to grow this ecosystem.

What’s your favorite part of the job?

Traveling (laughs). So yeah, as I mentioned that I spend 70 percent of my time for business development and marketing. So I travel quite frequently throughout the whole region and to the US, because Fenox’s headquarters is in the US. So I go to California two or three times a year and then report to my boss, to my investment committee, to the LPS. Aside from that, I also travel quite often within Southeast Asia, participating as a judge for startup competitions, being a speaker for tech conferences, or any other kind of public engagement opportunities where I can support and contribute to the startup ecosystem.

It can be very tiring, but when you meet all the startup enthusiasts or other VCs and how they are really excited and they’re really believe in this market, in this landscape, it gives you more energy. By the end of the day you forget about all those tiring times. Traveling, meeting new people, and networking with more senior-level people are the most exciting parts of my job. And especially since I met a lot of startups, it’s also a learning process for me. I learned a lot of practical business skills from different startups. I learned how every founder has their own different strategy in executing the business and how they are trying to disrupt or be the winner in the market.

Have you ever faced any challenges throughout your career trajectory? If so, how did you get over those challenges?

There are two things: age and gender. It’s an uphill battle. I’m young and I’m a woman. When I join any board of director meetings of the startups, or in any kind of very important meetings, I’m often the only woman there. And I’m the youngest of all. Sometimes all of the parties attending the meetings are senior-level men. Or entrepreneurs with five to 10 years of experience. Sometimes we cannot deny that they might underestimate us because we are young and we are women. But I don’t care about that. Again, that’s my principal – I think that age and gender don’t matter.

The first time I entered one of those meetings, I was a bit nervous. But then I realized that if you can deliver, then people won’t underestimate you. They won’t see how young you are. They won’t care if you’re a man or a woman. It’s just a matter of how you can be. You can speak out. Before every board meeting, I always prepare. If it’s a portfolio board meeting, I always try to understand what are their challenges. And then during the meeting, I always try to ask a lot of questions, try to show them that yes, I’m young, but I can be as critical as you are. I can be sharp, I can point out something that’s wrong in the company’s business strategy or structure. And then at the end of the day, people will think, yeah, age and gender don’t matter. I think that even though you already have potential, you need to show that your potential people will respect you and that’s how you actually can tackle all the challenges.

How is the VC industry in Indonesia in terms of gender composition?

It’s still a male-dominated industry. Even for analysts. If you see the ecosystem, most of the analysts and people working in VCs are still men. I’m actually also a bit confused as to why. Because the opportunity is open for everyone. I would really encourage women out there to take part in this industry. You are helping the country to grow the digital economy while helping startups doing business. I see more and more women now are getting interested in working in the VC industry. I would like to encourage them to challenge themselves so they can eventually be in top management in this male-dominated industry.

What is your view on the startup ecosystem from the gender point of view?

I think even the entrepreneurial DNA itself in Indonesia is still a bit low. Most people prefer to get a job in a big corporation instead of becoming an entrepreneur, because being an entrepreneur is not easy. It’s really hard to build a startup. You have to bootstrap first to get traction before you can come to the VC and pitch to them for investment. Right now, there are a lot of VCs that are trying to empower women by having specific funds set for them.. It’s a very good initiative and I really appreciate that kind of effort so that we can encourage more female to be a startup founder.

Being an entrepreneur is a challenge, but that now is a good chance for any females who are thinking of building their own startup. And again, even though you are a female, it doesn’t mean that you will get less funding compared to a male entrepreneur. In Silicon Valley, there are many female entrepreneurs building startups. And some even succeeded in building unicorns. And I believe that Indonesian women can also do that.

How long do you think it is until Indonesia has a unicorn with a female founder?

Realistically maybe in the next few years. But I would really hope that within five years, we can have a new unicorn with female founders. And if that happens, I would be really happy and I will be really proud to be part of this ecosystem and maybe I can be their next. investor. But right now I also already in some startup that actually the founder and the cofounder itself is also women. So for example, Hijup is actually one of my portfolio companies. And I also just invested in Travelio.

How do we get more women to become founders? Especially women who are not necessarily based in Jakarta?

It should be a joint effort. We should involve all the stakeholders from the VC, which is, will be the one that going to inject capital into the startups, any other private sector like corporation who might start interested with the startups and then the government, the policy stakeholder. I think we should work hand in hand to encourage them that they have the opportunity.  I am happy that even now, some VCs have fund dedicated for women founders.

I think it’s a matter of creating more programs from the VC side. It’s a good thing to have a dedicated fund for women founders. This could encourage more women to start their own ventures to build their startups. I also think the government should create more associate services and programs. Even if the government cannot support in terms of capital, they can at least support in terms of creating a better policy environment for startups and female founders.

What are the biggest challenges that Indonesia ecosystem faces today?

I think the biggest challenge for Indonesia is the awareness of the technology itself. If you’re talking about startups, it’s all about the business leveraging the technology in an innovative way. But the people still might not be aware about how to use it.

The second challenge is the ecosystem’s own maturity. We need a more mature ecosystem right now. Again, I would like to emphasize here that we need the help from the government. If you see Singapore and Malaysia, the government itself is more mature in supporting the startup ecosystem through policy. We really need that.

For example, the fintechs startups still face many challenges in terms of the license and regulations. So I think we really need to sit together with all the stakeholders, and with the government to make sure that these startups can work properly, that they won’t have any trouble running the startup just because of regulations. The biggest challenge right now is about the regulations. It’s tough, but I think our government is getting there. So I hope in the next year there won’t be any issue with regulations anymore. We don’t want to hear any startup fintech forced to shut down because they do not meet the government regulation.

What’s your long term game? Where do you want to be?

Of course, I want to have my own VC. That’s my long term plan. I’ve been learning how to close a deal with the startups, how to invest in startups, learning how to maintain relationships with LPs. Now I’m working together with my boss to fundraise and set up a new fund for Fenox VC. My long term plan is to have my own VC. Or at least, become a partner in a VC before 30. That’s my biggest aspiration so far. I am 24 now, and I am sure as long as I am working hard, I can achieve that.

Do you have any role models?

My role model is Elon Musk. I really like him to be honest. In my perspective, he is a perfect combination between an innovator, a visionary and a capitalist at the same time.  He build ventures not only to gain profit, but also to help people get a better life.

Do you have any advice for other young women looking to enter the VC or startup industry?

My advice would be, just challenge yourself because if you think that you cannot do it, then you won’t do it.. Work on your passion. It doesn’t matter if your background has nothing to do with finance or business. Everything can be learned. Don’t worry about that. You can learn, you can ask a lot of people who already have an expertise in this industry. If you have a passion, work on it. Age or gender, they don’t matter at all. The most important thing is actually your mindset.

I always say that sky’s not the limit here. The limit is your mindset. If you can do it, you can do it. So I would encourage more people – more young women – to work together and help our government, our country, to be the leading digital economy in this region. By joining a VC, it means you are going to help startups grow their business. The more startups we have, the bigger chance to achieve our digital economy growth. If I can be a regional manager at 23, you can also do the same thing. You can achieve more than I have achieved so far. You can even be a partner at the age of 24, 25. Who knows? It’s just a matter of challenging yourself and doing everything beyond your limit.

[RECAP] Jakarta Tech Investors Night

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A gathering of tech investors took place at Freeware Suites, Equity Tower on July 25th, 2018 – players ranging from prominent tech VCs such as Grupara Ventures, Alpha JWC, East Ventures, and Monks Hill Ventures, as well as representatives from Amazon Web Services and angels from the ANGIN network. The event was co-hosted by Freeware Spaces and ANGIN.

The evening was made lively by the investor community, who chatted about the year in deals, investment opportunities and outlook in Indonesia, and interesting startups at the moment. In addition, Freeware Spaces took the time to elaborate on their expansion plans, welcoming a new team member and revealing plans to strengthen core operations and community.

We thank Freeware Suites in taking the time to host this amazing event and welcome more investor gatherings in the future. It is always an amazing experience to gather together and share on how the investor community can work together towards a better-funded and ever-growing investment landscape in Indonesia.

Full list of organizational attendees:

ANGIN, Grupara Ventures, Alpha JWC, East Ventures, Amazon Web Service, Kolibra Capital, MDI Ventures, Openspace ventures, Kejora Ventures, GK Plug and Play Indonesia, Skystar Capital, Golden Gate Ventures, Incubate Fund, Venturra Discovery Fund, Gobi Partners, Mandiri Capital, Ideosource, Coffee Ventures, Venturra, SMDV, Patamar Capital, Monks Hill Ventures, Merah Putih Inc, Fenox Venture Capital, Spiral Ventures, Gree Ventures, Antler, Agaeti Venture, Vickers Venture Partners, PT Prasetia Dwidharma, PT Startuplokal, Convergence Ventures, Emasdigi, PT. MNC Tbk, OPI Digital Group, Seekmi, Stellar Kapital, Cyberagent Ventures, Syailendra Kapital, Intudo Ventures, Akseleran, Kravelist, Maskoolin

[EVENT RECAP] DBS Academy: Sharing Session on Branding with ANGIN

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On Wed (25/7), Nadira from ANGIN had a sharing session on DBS Academy discussing branding and how to create a brand that will stand out to investors.

It was a full house filled with startup founders and small to medium business owners.

Here are some key takeaways from the session:

  • You have to know why your brand exists. What is the reason behind creating this product or solution?
  • Clarify your Unique Selling Proposition (USP). What differentiates your brand with competitors?
  • Define the “who”. Who is your target market? What are their habits? How would your solution benefit them?
  • Create a brand identity. What is your brand archetype? What does your brand stand for?
  • Know your brand message. Translate your vision into words that your users will understand.

We hope that participants learned and gained a lot of insights from this sharing session. We thank DBS for having us as a speaker. We always look forward to helping startups and business owners in their journey!

[RECAP] K-Content Expo 2018

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At the K-Content Expo 2018 in Bangkok, I had the pleasure of meeting with numerous startups and organizations in the Korean creative industry in sectors ranging from character licensing, VR, EdTech, film production, broadcasting, comics, video games, and animation. Throughout the two meeting-filled days I learned about the opportunities and challenges facing this industry both in Korea and around the globe.

Everyone I met with cited the opportunity for novel Korean content and entertainment to spread to other countries in Asia that have not yet been fully exposed to it. Many particularly noted Indonesia as a promising region to target due to its very large and digitally savvy population. Although there was widespread optimism about expanding to adjacent regions, content creators emphasized the importance of finding the right local partners in order to ensure successful distribution and adoption. It was clear to me that the consumer media preferences in Korea were quite different than in other regions and that the type of content that has been successful there may not necessarily be elsewhere. As a result, all of the companies were very keen on understanding the local preferences of each of these adjacent regions thoroughly before taking action.

It will be interesting to see how the Korean creative industry develops going forward — I will certainly be keeping an eye on it. I am grateful to have been able to meet the extraordinary companies and people at the K-Content Expo, and look forward to keeping in touch in the future. I would like to thank KOCCA for hosting and inviting me to such a rewarding event.

KOCCA is a government agency under the MCST, supporting the advancement of creative industry in Korea, which encourages global business and enhances cultural exchanges, MCST and KOCCA hold the K-Content EXPO around the world yearly.

[RECAP] ANGIN goes to Echelon Asia Summit 2018

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It’s conference season for the Asia Pacific’s startup and investor community – and Singapore happens to be the place to be. ANGIN team members Meredith Peng and Riaz Bhardwaj attended the Echelon Asia Summit 2018 in Singapore from June 28 – 29. Echelon is one of the region’s most hottest anticipated conferences, bringing together investors, startups, corporates, government, tech ecosystem players, and customers in one space. Simultaneously occuring was the TOP100 Startup pitch competition, where 150 handpicked startups from APAC battled it out on stage.

Aside from the various insights from talks, keynotes, and panels on Southeast Asia’s startup ecosystem, the ANGIN team enjoyed speaking to both startups and investors interested in the Indonesian market. We are excited to hear growing interest in Indonesia – startups who want to scale their solutions into Indonesia as well as investors who see potential in Indonesian startups. We are confident that ANGIN is well-positioned as an ecosystem player to become a natural partner in these efforts; through our research and consulting arm as well as harnessing the power of technology via Connector.ID, we believe that we can support this growing interest in the Indonesian market from major APAC players.

ANGIN is also pleased to have been invited to the MOIBA dinner, where startups and investors from around the region networked and gained meaningful connections over food and drink. We would like to thank the e27 and Echelon teams as well as MOIBA for the invitations and look forward to collaboration and mutual partnership in the future.

Melina Subastian: Investment Manager at Alpha JWC Ventures

Posted on | by angin

Tell us a bit about yourself.

My name is Melina. I am an investment manager at Alpha JWC Ventures. We are a venture capital firm with a focus on Indonesia and the rest of Southeast Asia for early and mid-stage tech startups. We do investments with the founder-first principles, where we like to back great mindset and potential entrepreneurs.

Describe your journey. How did you get to where you are today?

My journey. My first job was in management consulting with McKinsey & Co. in the Jakarta office. I spent about three years there, and I did most of my projects in digital transformation and community development (in McKinsey, they refer to “tech” as “digital”). Some of the projects I did were things like digital banking development for conventional banking, e-commerce platform development for modern retailers, and ‘digital village’ creation where we empower offline-to-online technology transformation in rural areas in Indonesia.

Working on those projects made me very excited about tech industry. After couple of years advising corporations, I got interested in seeing the wider scope of tech in the startup landscape. I interviewed with both tech start-ups and VCs. I ended up in a VC because I felt very passionate in making a wider impact, and VC role would allow me to do it. By doing assessments and leveraging a network and wide community of companies, we can provide a wider impact and also help in community development and ecosystem building, like what ANGIN and Connector.ID do. I really think that based on my character and personal preferences, this is something that really suits me. I can also apply what I learned during my time at management consulting, especially in the assessment of companies, compatibility with founders, and portfolio management. So far, I feel very happy here.

As a VC, you’re able to see a wide variety of start-ups. From what you see, how are women entrepreneurs doing? How are the numbers? Do you see a lot in certain sectors?

This is a very interesting question. I’ve spoken at some panels and events on gender-lens investing and women’s entrepreneurship, and this question often popped up. I see that – and everybody knows this – women entrepreneurs are still very much a minority in Indonesia and in Southeast Asia. I would say that the visible ones are around 10-20% of all start-ups. If you look at our 20 portfolio companies, four companies have female founders. Four out of 20 is actually quite a good number for female VC-backed startups. We are actively trying to promote and encourage more women entrepreneurs in our investments going forward.

How does the investment landscape actually view these women entrepreneurs?

So when I said around 10-20% of all start-ups have female founders, those are the visible ones. But the VC-backed ones are even less than 10%. Yeah. And there are a few reasons for that. Which are actually due to how the landscape views women as entrepreneurs.

This goes without saying, but there’s a nonverbal stereotype within the VC community that I have actually observed and is also something backed by data. Recently, Alpha JWC had a female-led event called Alpha Female on women’s entrepreneurship and gender-lens investing. We featured some female leaders and practitioners that we see have great impact in female entrepreneurship. Some of them included: Sonia Barquin, a partner in digital banking, Dayu Dara, Head of GO-LIFE at GO-JEK, Alyssa Maharani of Google Accelerator and Grace Natalia, one of our female co-founders. We were talking about one very interesting data point from a Google research project indicating that there is a big discrepancy in terms of the proportion of males that got investments after pitching compared to females who got investment after pitching. Females are less likely to get investment, even though the content of the pitching was the same. The research was conducted across VCs, accelerator programs, and pitching competitions. To me, that is quite ironic. This is a data-backed research.

Even without data, I can see this in practice. For example, I was once in a chat with some other VCs and they were saying something like, “Oh the business idea is great, the market is big, but she’s the only founder and she’s female.” That to me is sad. Why? One, the community still holds females to unrealistically high social expectations. They ask, “What if she gives birth? What if she gets married? What about our investment?” That’s very sad, right? Second, they also don’t believe that females can scale themselves up or push themselves to be great tech leaders. Third, these people take it as a casual chat. They chat about it in front of me – who is also female – and they think of it as something that is very normal. To me, this is something that is deeply rooted in gender bias stereotypes. It is something that we – starting from us – really need to take action about, and a sign that we must encourage entrepreneurship from females. Create more chances for them, give more opportunities.

What are some tangible ways we can move forwards as a start-up ecosystem? Is it having more gender-focused events? Showcasing more stories? Or targeting a quota for women in portfolios?

Stories like these are definitely important. But what is equally, if not most important is actually how we take action. I like action-oriented initiatives such as gender-lens investing – really targeting female entrepreneurs and backing them to give them support. Second, we should not forget other female communities in the ecosystem who are non-founders. These are people like female tech enthusiasts, professionals, and leaders like C-levels, Head levels. They also need support. We should create support groups. Even small things like WhatsApp groups or small mini-networking events once a month, those are very helpful. I’m personally involved in some communities like this. One is SheVC, a community driven by female VC leaders and associates in Jakarta. Another is Fintech Female, a community driven by female fintech leaders in Singapore, including fintech founders, enthusiasts, and active investors like us in Southeast Asia.

How do we drive more female talents to the VC scene?

Similar to tech companies, tech VCs are also a male-dominated industry. Many times I found myself at a table or room full of men. In fact, in many pitchings I’m the only female. That is a fact. And so one solution is definitely role-modeling. Role-modeling is about two things. One is in terms of communication, the second is in terms of number. In terms of communication, initiatives like this – ANGIN Women’s Spotlight – is very helpful. Because you spotlight women in the ecosystem and that triggers other women to join and contribute in the VC landscape. In term of numbers, we should look into eliminating gender bias in recruiting. By hiring more women, we increase the number of role models.

I found very few female VC role models in Southeast Asia, especially in Indonesia. When I started my career as a consultant, one piece of advice that the HR told me was to look up to female role models at the firm in order to boost my development quickly. The firm at that time consisted of 30-40% female, with few of them in partner level. The female proportion is considered minority, but that is more doable compared to this industry. As a female VC – especially ones starting out in the first 1-2 years – it’s important to see how to succeed as a female. Even simple tips like how to self-brand, how to build presence, how to bring yourself in a meeting by asking right and targeted questions – those are the things we should get with more role models in the tech industry.

Men also carry responsibility for getting more females in the room and encouraging female role models. What are some tangible steps we can take to hold our male counterparts accountable?

I like this question! We’re talking about what men can do, right? One is eliminating gender bias in recruiting. If the quality of the candidate is the same, think about how to also balance gender in recruiting. Another is definitely during meetings, in pitching, or in discussions with other VCs, to try to really involve female counterparts by giving them a chance to speak or asking them questions, or even as simple as introducing them in the beginning. That helps in terms of confidence. Of course, we would expect a proactive approach from female VCs as well, but sometimes in a room dominated by men, that might be a challenge that is not really visible.

How do you go forward in your day-to-day being the only female in the room? Where do you get your confidence from?

The most important thing is definitely the mindset. If you think that because we’re female that we’re victimized, then we would act or behave as if we are the minority. Like we’re being discriminated, that we’re victims. I never felt like because I was female I had different capabilities than men. That has never been my mindset. But I see many females think that way.

A second tip is to try in every meeting, in every pitching, to give a good if not great impression. Show your credibility and capability, ask the right questions, and then give some good advice, some good feedback.

The third is to leverage our natural advantage as female. Being female, we do have one advantage in terms of character. We’re seen as more caring creatures. We are perceived as being able to understand and sympathize more with others than a man can. So leverage that. Because during pitching, entrepreneurs like to be listened to. Not just about whether they can be invested in or not, but also if we can give feedback to their challenges.

Have you yourself faced personal challenges? Any incidents of facing gender bias?

One is perhaps in terms of the jokes. I feel like some jokes are improper and can lead to sexual harrasment. Not extreme, but it’s still a form of harassment. For example, I once spoke at a tech event dominated by male audiences and they said, “Oh you should be his girlfriend, oh you might want to know me further.” It’s just improper. Building presence is very important. It can be done by not responding to those things while keeping ourselves polite.

Another challenge would be the one I mentioned before, where I saw some VC investors talking about a female founder, where they actually doubt her just because she is a female. The business is good, the market is big, but just because she’s a female – because she might get married or give birth next year, they chose not to invest. Those are the two incidents I see.

Do you have any advice for other girls who want to get into the VC industry?

One is to think about yourself as a pioneer. Because if you join now, you’ll be one of the first female VCs in Indonesia and in Southeast Asia. You’ll probably be one of the first 10% of the female VCs in Indonesia actually. While venture capital itself is a growing industry – we’re getting more mature, compared to a few years ago. Think about it as ‘we’re writing history and you’re being a part of it’.

Second, if you’re facing any challenges or any difficulties in building confidence, that is a very normal thing. But with time and through mentorship, by sharing with support groups or anyone you can trust, you can overcome it.

 

[RECAP] UBS x ANGIN Empowering Women High Tea

Posted on | by angin

On 4 April, 2018, ANGIN co-hosted a high tea event with UBS Unique. The event was a chance for attendees to gain greater insight into the world of impact investing and gender-lens investment. Tracey Woon of UBS moderated the discussion – two presentations and a fireside chat with James Gifford, CIO & Head of Impact Investing at UBS, and Shinta Kamdani, CEO of Sintesa Group and Founder of ANGIN.
James Gifford spoke of the many ways that the next generation could have an impact on investment activities, as well as how the world is changing to reward sustainable businesses and punish ones that do harm. Meanwhile, Shinta Kamdani gave a presentation on the strides that ANGIN has taken in women’s empowerment: from the Women Fund to empowering women through Women’s Spotlight, ANGIN has shown a track record of dedication to supporting women throughout the Indonesian startup ecosystem.
The high tea was filled with buzz, networking, and conversations on responsible and sustainable investment. We hope that some of the discussions at the event will lead to concrete actions in both the Indonesian and Singaporean investment ecosystems. ANGIN is looking forward to hosting more productive and insightful events with our friends at UBS Unique in the future.