5 Leading Indonesian Growth Stage Startups (That aren’t Go-Jek or Tokopedia)
22 June 2019
The Indonesian tech industry is rife with potential –but I guess you know this already.
By 2019, the country has become home to four out of the 10 unicorn startups in the Southeast Asian region – Go-Jek, Tokopedia, Traveloka, and Bukalapak. In addition to raising billions of dollars, these startups have also become a top-of-mind brand in their respective industries.
But these four big names are not just the only ones leaving their mark in the market. Defining growth stage startups as those who had raised Series B funding rounds and beyond, e27 presents five of the most exciting growth stage startups in Indonesia.
CoHive
As the Indonesian startup ecosystem grows, so is the demand for affordable office spaces that also enables tenants to build network and collaborate. With 31 locations across four cities in Indonesia, CoHive is easily one of the biggest names in this sector.
Previously known as EV Hive, CoHive started out as a project by Southeast Asian early stage venture capital firm East Ventures. The company has recently made headline as it made the first close of its US$20 million Series B funding round at US$13.5 million. Led by Stonebridge Ventures, the funding round also included Kolon Investment, Stassets Investment, a local property developer as well as existing investors from the company’s Series A funding round such as H&CK Partners.
In addition to coworking spaces, CoHive has also launched products in the coliving and coretails sectors. It had even launched its own 18-story building CoHive 101, which included all of its offerings in one location.
Warung Pintar
One of the most noticeable things about tech industry in Indonesia is that innovations tend to focus on grass root level. Like Go-Jek, who have been working with informal motorbike taxi drivers (ojek), Warung Pintar is an example of Indonesian startup who aim to digitise a cash-heavy business sector in the country.
The company works with “warungs” (mom-and-pop stores) to help embrace the digital era by implementing cashless payments and digitised supply chain. It has recently raised a US$27.5 million Series B funding round from existing investors SMDV, Vertex Ventures, Pavilion Capital, LINE Ventures, Digital Garage, Agaeti, Triputra, Jerry Ng, and EV Growth. The funding round also included Lippo Group-backed cashless payment platform OVO.
Starting out with only two kiosks in January 2018, Warung Pintar has grown into more than 1,300 kiosks.
Ruangguru
In the edutech sector, Indonesia has Ruangguru, which started out as online marketplace for private tutors. The startup has since branched out to offer other services such as Learning Management System for formal education system, integrated learning video subscription service, on-demand tutoring service, and a social learning education solution for group-based distance learning.
Ruangguru raised an undisclosed Series B funding round led by UOB Venture Management in July 2017. In addition to venture capital funding, the startup has also received grants such as one from the MIT SOLVE programme.
Ruangguru co-founders Iman Usman and Adamas Belva have been named in the Forbes’ 30 Under 30 Asia 2017, for the consumer tech category.
HaloDoc
The healthtech sector is one of the most promising in the Indonesian tech industry, and one particular name stood up: HaloDoc. Offering a telemedicine service, the startup this year has raised a US$65 million Series B funding round from UOB Venture Management. In addition to existing investors, the funding round included new investors such as Singtel Innov8, Korea Investment Partners, and WuXi AppTec.
The startup has previously raised a funding round that included Indonesian ride-hailing giant Go-Jek, which allowed HaloDoc’s medicine delivery service to be included in the Go-Jek platform as Go-Med.
HappyFresh
This year was proven to be a challenging one for online grocery services in Indonesia, with Honestbee shutting down its operations in the country.
HappyFresh announced in April that they have closed US$20 million in Series C round of funding, led by South Korean VC firm Mirae Asset-Naver Growth Fund.
It had also previously announced an investment round from GrabVentures, which led to its service to be integrated into the Grab platform, as part of its ‘super app’ ambition.
For HappyFresh, their journey was not without challenges and setbacks. In 2016, the startup pulled out of two markets in Asia and also replaced its then CEO Markus Bihler with incumbent Guillem Segarra.
Source: e27