East Ventures-backed companies, Nalagenetics and Ruangguru, crowned as Top Startup in the G20 Innovation League 2021
October 12, 2021
Indonesian healthtech company focusing on personalized screening and intervention Nalagenetics and the leading edtech company in Southeast Asia Ruangguru have been chosen as the Top 10 startup in the G20 Innovation League 2021, an international forum held at Sorrento, Italy, on October 9-10, 2021. Nalagenetics won first place in the healthcare category, meanwhile Ruangguru won second place in the AI (Artificial Intelligence) category. Both of these East Ventures’ portfolios represent Indonesia as chosen by the Indonesian Ministry of Communications and Informatics to overcome global challenges that are highlighted as this year’s theme by the G20 (Group of 20).
“We are very thankful for the opportunity given by the Ministry of Communications and Informatics, as well as the G20 team for sharing our mission in realizing health personalization more affordable for a developing country. We hope to keep making Indonesia proud on a global scale,” said Levana Sani, CEO of Nalagenetics.
“We feel honored to be selected by the Ministry of Communications and Informatics to represent Indonesia in the G20 Innovation League 2021. This achievement is not without the hard work of thousands of the Ruangguru team–especially the Product, Technology, and Content team in Ruangguru–who has been innovating and continuously enhancing the quality of both Ruangguru’s products and services. In this forum, we shared our experience in leveraging AI technology to create a more adaptive and personalized learning experience for Indonesian students. We hope this award motivates us to work even harder for Indonesia’s education!” said Iman Usman, Co-founder and COO of Ruangguru.
The G20 Innovation League 2021 is a part of the G20 Italian Presidency that focuses on the challenges and the opportunity to improve international trade, investments and innovation playing field for the benefit of mankind. This year, each Member Country nominates startups for each different focus challenge:
- The challenge and opportunities of Cleantech
- How to maximize the potential of AI while managing its risks
- Augmenting humans through technology with IoT and Wearables
- Building smart cities and the future of mobility with a specific focus on green and smart mobility
- Reinventing the future of Healthcare
In Indonesia, the Ministry of Communications and Informatics selected 4 startups to represent Indonesia, namely Waste4Change (cleantech), Ruangguru (AI), Advotics (IoT and wearables), and Nalagenetics (healthcare). All of these companies are East Ventures’ very own portfolios. A total of 100 startups across 30 countries had a pitching session, and the panelists selected Top 10 startups as examples of immediate opportunities to tackle the global challenges and foster global investments and trade.
Bonifasius Wahyu Pudjianto, Director of Informatics Empowerment (Pemberdayaan Informatika) said, “Ministry of Communications and Informatics is very proud of Nalagenetics and Ruangguru, both being selected in the G20 Innovation League 2021 held in Italy. Indonesian startups being recognized in an international forum shows the spirit of the nation to embody digital inclusion and equality, as well as to contribute to solving global problems, especially in the AI and healthcare sectors, through technology innovation. That being said, this achievement also gives a great and positive spirit to Indonesia who is going to be the G20 Leader Summit Presidency 2022.”
“We’re happy and proud to see our portfolios as Indonesia’s representative to convey their innovative solutions to tackle global challenges happening in an international forum, G20 Innovation League 2021. Nalagenetics and Ruangguru have set a new record and shown the power of Indonesia’s digital ecosystem to the world. Congratulations, Nalagenetics and Ruangguru,” said Italo Gani, Venture Partner of East Ventures.