East Ventures Marks 10 Year Anniversary, Commits to Generating More Impact in Indonesia

7 October 2019

JAKARTA, 7 October 2019 – East Ventures, a leading early stage venture fund company based in Indonesia, today celebrated its 10 years of contributing to the region’s start-up growth with a birthday celebration at The Westin, Jakarta.

During the event, East Ventures’ Founders shared with the attendees the key milestones the firm has achieved over the decade – chiefly on how it has created significant impact to entrepreneurs and the start-up ecosystem. To date, East Ventures has backed over 300 founders and helped scale up over 160 start-ups, including two of Indonesia’s unicorns, in conjunction with follow-on funding of some US$4 billion. Moving the forward, the firm will focus on generating even greater impact for Indonesia’s thriving start-up space.

East Ventures’ achievements have also impacted investors greatly. In this year’s report by Preqin, a global data provider on the alternative assets market, East Ventures was named as one of the “Most Consistent Top Performing Venture Capital Fund Managers” in the world. Preqin’s research shows that three of East Ventures’ investment funds perform better than other global venture capital companies and make it to the top quartile. Additionally, it showed that the Indonesia-based firm stood on par with other large venture capital companies in the United States and Hong Kong. The firm is also the only VC from Southeast Asia to receive the prestigious title.

While growing a robust start-up ecosystem in Indonesia and across Asia has been a key part of East Ventures’ vision, the firm has also focused on helping to ensure that the growth was able to generate wider societal impact. During the event, the firm showed how its start-ups have overall contributed to more than 1.5 percent to Indonesia’s GDP, while empowering 8.5 million micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

Through the growth of its portfolio companies, East Ventures contributed to the following achievements: making it easier for 30 percent of Indonesian students to study more effectively; enhancing access for 60 percent of female millennials to beauty products; opening access for some 230,000 freelancers to more jobs; helping 26 percent of Indonesian co-working space users to get their dream work place.

“The achievements that we are happy to share today would not have been possible without the overwhelming support given to us by our investors – namely those who share our vision of growing a robust and sustainable business ecosystem in Asia that creates more inclusive impact for the greater society,” said Willson Cuaca, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, East Ventures. “As we move ahead into the next decade, we are excited at looking how we can work more closely with our stakeholders – our investors, entrepreneurs and start-ups – to bring out the best of Indonesian businesses and help them scale their impacts at a regional level,” added Willson.

Established in Indonesia in 2009 by Willson Cuaca, Batara Eto, and Taiga Matsuyama, East Ventures entered the nation’s start-up scene when it was still nascent. Despite the initial headwinds, East Ventures over the past decade managed to build a strong track record of developing Indonesia’s tech ecosystem by backing innovative start-ups that focus on generating wider socio-economic impacts and building the nation’s digital infrastructure.

According to the data from e-Conomy SEA report 2019 released by Google, Temasek and Bain, the gross merchandise value (GMV) of e-commerce Indonesia valued at some US$20.9 billion. East Ventures’ internal data shows that the company’s portfolio has contributed over 50 percent of the total gross merchandise value (GMV) of e-commerce Indonesia. The e-Conomy SEA 2019 report also stated that total e-commerce shoppers in Southeast Asia can reach 150 million people, with the data from East Ventures shows that more than 60 percent of them has been served by East Ventures’ portfolio.

In total, East Ventures’ internal data shows that portfolio companies contributed to 45 percent of the total internet economy in Indonesia stated in the e-Conomy SEA 2019 report, which is US$40 billion. Furthermore, East Ventures internal data shows that company has also contributed greatly to Indonesia’s online travel sector, with its portfolio company holding majority of GMV US$10 billion mentioned in the e-Conomy SEA 2019 report.

The e-Conomy SEA 2019 report also shows that the total investment in Southeast Asian unicorns is US$24 billion, which East Ventures internal data shows that 50 percent of the investment goes to the East Ventures’ portfolio. With the firm supporting 13 of today’s aspiring unicorns, East Ventures accelerating its efforts to grow a pan-Asian tech ecosystem; with the Indonesia as the focal point.

About East Ventures

East Ventures is an early stage venture fund focusing on SEA and Japan. Over the years, East Ventures has invested in hundreds of companies in Indonesia, Singapore, Japan, Malaysia, and Thailand. Majority of East Ventures’ portfolio went on to raise follow-on financing rounds, dominate the market, and become category leaders.

East Ventures has a strong track record in developing pan-Asia tech-ecosystems and backing the start-ups in their early day, including Tokopedia, Traveloka, Mercari, Disdus (acquired by Groupon), Kudo (acquired by Grab), Tech in Asia, Omise, IDNTimes, Ruangguru, Jurnal, Cermati, Mokapos, Shopback, EVHive, and Loket (acquired by Gojek).

For more information, please visit: www.east.vc