East Ventures Welcomes Former Indonesian Cabinet Member as Venture Advisor

• Triawan Munaf is The President Commissioner of Garuda Indonesia.
• In 2015, Triawan was appointed by President Joko Widodo as the Head of Indonesian Creative Economy Agency (Bekraf) and lead the newly established ministerial-level agency until October 2019. Currently, he serves as the Honorary Advisor of Tourism and Creative Economy Ministry.
• Triawan Munaf will join the firm as Venture Advisor. 

Indonesia, 4 February 2020 ― East Ventures, the pioneer of Indonesia’s early-stage venture capital, announced today that Triawan Munaf has joined the firm’s leadership as Venture Advisor. In his new role, Triawan will join the firm in bringing out the best of Indonesian business and help them scale their impacts at a regional level. 

Recently appointed as the President Commissioner of Garuda Indonesia, Triawan Munaf is a seasoned politician and entrepreneur with over 30 years of experience in Indonesia’s creative industry. 

In 2015, Triawan was appointed by Indonesian President Joko Widodo as the Head of Indonesian Creative Economy Agency (Bekraf) to lead the newly established ministerial-level agency. He was responsible for assisting the president in formulating, establishing, coordinating, and synchronizing policies for the nation’s creative economy.

During his tenure as the Head of Bekraf from 2015-2019, Triawan reflects his enthusiasm in developing the Indonesian startup industry by launching multiple initiatives and programs namely Bekraf Developer Day (nationwide developer conferences that attract 16,901 young developers across the archipelago), Bekraf Game Prime (the largest B2B and B2C game event in Indonesia), and Piala President Esports (the first national e-sports tournament).

Other programs among others including GoStartup (startup mentoring), Coding Mum (coding training for mothers), Bekraf for Pre-Startup (Bekup), AKATARA (film financing forum), showcasing local startups at SXSW 2018, IKKON (program for creative industry players to develop the creative economy of a designated area), annual publication of Indonesia fashion and design trend forecasting, continuous participation in Venice Bienalle, and many more. 

To date, Triawan still contributes as an Honorary Advisor to merge the Ministry of Tourism and Bekraf.

During his time as the Head of Bekraf, Triawan was awarded:

• The Gwanghwa Medal – The highest diplomatic medal awarded by the Korean Government to foreigners.
• Ganesa Prajamanggala Bakti Adiutama – The highest recognition from Bandung Institute of Technology for Government Official.
• Dharma Krida Baraya Adikarya Anugraha – The highest appreciation from University of Sebelas Maret, Solo for his service and concerns to the development of SME in Indonesia. 

Willson Cuaca, Co-founder and Managing Partner of East Ventures, expressed his excitement in welcoming Triawan Munaf. ” During his tenure as the Head of Bekraf, Mr. Triawan was known for his friendliness and practicality. Indonesia’s creative economy reached the highest point among Southeast Asian countries, and Bekraf’s team laid a strong foundation for the 16 pillars of Indonesia’s creative economy. Mr. Triawan shares similar values with East Ventures. Together, we want to move even faster in developing Indonesia’s digital economy by leveraging Mr. Triawan’s experience and ability in execution.”

“Digital economy is an important pillar in giving birth to more local entrepreneurs. East Ventures has been consistent with its mission in growing a robust startup ecosystem in Indonesia and across South East Asia. I am thrilled to join the leading venture firm that shares the same vision of building a sustainable business ecosystem in Asia, especially Indonesia, and is creating a more inclusive digital economy for the greater society,” said Triawan Munaf, Venture Advisor of East Ventures.

The appointment of Triawan Munaf marks another great milestone made by East Ventures in 2020. Last week, the firm launched its first report named East Ventures – Digital Competitiveness Index (EV-DCI) 2020, a comprehensive report about the state of the digital economy in 34 provinces and 24 big cities across Indonesia.

Read more: East Ventures Digital Competitiveness Index 2020: Uncovering The Opportunities of Indonesia’s Digital Economy and Bridging the Archipelago Digital Divide

Heading into the second decade, East Ventures plans to bolster its portfolio and continue to focus on generating even greater impact for Indonesia’s thriving start-up space. The addition of Triawan is indicative of East Ventures’ steady momentum over the past decade and will further strengthen its position as the leading venture capital in the region. 

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About East Ventures

East Ventures is the first early-stage investor in Indonesia and stands amongst the most consistently top-performing venture capitals globally with a constantly high IRR. Established since 2009, the firm has supported more than 170 digitally-enabled companies in Southeast Asia, with 130 companies founded in and operating in Indonesia.  

East Ventures has worked alongside entrepreneurs to build Indonesia’s digital ecosystem from the ground up since day 1. Spotting opportunities early, the firm is the first venture capital to support Indonesia’s two homegrown unicorns: Tokopedia and Traveloka. The firm has since then invested in other industry themes, including supporting infrastructure to e-commerce such as Waresix (logistics), Xendit (payment), Kudo (offline to online), Shopback (e-commerce enabler), vertical commerce such as Sociolla (new retail beauty), media such as IDN Media (millennial and gen-z audience), Tech in Asia (tech audience), and Katadata (business and economy audience), SME support such as Mekari (accounting, tax, payroll), Moka (POS), CoHive (coworking), new retail such as Warung Pintar (FMCG) and Fore Coffee (on-demand coffee chains), and digital transformation such as Advotics (supply chain analytics) and Nodeflux (computer vision and AI).

Over the past decade, the firm has grown its Southeast Asian assets reaching US$1.2 bn under management for both the early-stage and growth funds. The firm has delivered more than 20 exits, including Kudo’s acquisition by Grab, Loket’s acquisition by Gojek, Bridestory’s acquisition by Tokopedia, and multiple exits to both local and regional business groups. It has also attracted a total of US$4 bn in follow-on funding that fostered the growth of Indonesia’s digital economy today.