 "Why Indonesia’s richest families invest in tech start-ups")
In recent weeks, Tech in Asia asserted that Southeast Asia’s business landscape will soon belong to the generation that came of age at the turn of the millennium. In Indonesia, this means second and third generations of the nation’s family-owned conglomerates will have more decision-making power.
Tech investing is attractive to this group of millennials for a number of reasons. First, they inherently understand the potential of Southeast Asia’s digital economy far better than their parents. Second, new tech ventures are less risky in terms of upfront capital, yet if successful, can yield large upside benefits.
Lippo Group
In the past year, Indonesia’s Lippo Group has certainly been the most vocal about its role in the nation’s tech and ecommerce landscape. Historically, the firm is well-known as one of the largest real-estate development companies in Southeast Asia. In recent months, Lippo launched and invested in MatahariMall, an ecommerce firm that hopes to dethrone Lazada Indonesia as the number one estore in the archipelago. Lippo Group has made several other tech investments, but the most noteworthy move it’s made to date has been its sponsorship in Venturra Capital, aS$150 million fund for startups in Indonesia and Southeast Asia.
Sinar Mas is also one of the largest and most powerful conglomerates in Indonesia. The company was founded by a Chinese Indonesian tycoon, Eka Tjipta Widjaja, and operates in different sectors such as pulp and paper, real estate, financial services, agribusiness, telecommunications, and mining.
Sinar Mas recently set up its own tech VC arm called Sinar Mas Digital Ventures (SMDV). The firm has invested in startups like aCommerce, Female Daily Network, GiftCard Indonesia, Cantik, and HappyFresh.
