News – Insights
Willson Cuaca, a venture capital pioneer, makes FORTUNE Indonesia’s Businessperson of The Year 2022 list
Willson Cuaca, Co-founder & Managing Partner at East Ventures (EV), is one of the key figures behind capital injections into hundreds of start-ups in Indonesia. However, the story of how he raised investor funds and channeled them to startup founders—who, even then, only had an idea and didn't have a team yet—is a gamble. Yet, he never knew whether to win or lose.
Cold chain may be the next opportunity for Indonesia’s logistics startups
Indonesian last-mile logistics startup Paxel found that almost half of its shipments are of frozen food – primarily from MSMEs sending their products to customers. This is despite the company’s fleet mainly made up of motorcycles that are not equipped with any kind of refrigeration.
Get to know Batik Parang and how its philosophy resonates with East Ventures’ values
Indonesia is widely known for its Batik — an art and textile-making technique. Hundreds of kinds of Batik originating from various regions and districts in Indonesia carry the beauty in its art, its deep meaning, and philosophy.
The role of fintech lending to Indonesia’s agribusiness sector
Agriculture plays a significant role in Indonesia's economic growth and development. It contributed to 14% of the nation's GDP in 2020, and the sector employs 29% of the Indonesian workforce. However, most Indonesian farmers are still living in poverty. According to World Bank’s data, around half of the Indonesian farmers are smallholders that earn an average of US$ 3.2 per day.
East Ventures: Uplifting Indonesian Society Through The Digital Economy, a case study by the CIIP
As the largest venture capital (VC) fund in Indonesia, investing in early-to-growth stage digital solutions across Southeast Asia and Japan, East Ventures has invested in digital solutions that solve the pain points of local communities, including by increasing access to education and optimizing end-to-end logistics, creating seamless and safe payment processes, and democratizing access to commerce.
Willson Cuaca’s coconut framework wants startups to focus on core strengths
More often than not, relying on a single specialized tool will be better suited for a particular job when compared to using a lot of gadgets and trying to force things to work.
Fundraising tips for startup founders
Unlike conventional companies, the startup business model relies heavily on external capital support. Then, how can startup founders find investors so quickly?
Reimagining Indonesia’s agriculture by strengthening the supply chain
Indonesia is known as one the world’s major agricultural nations and some of the world’s largest producers and exporters of crops such as rubber, copra, palm kernels, palm oil, coffee, cocoa, and spices. However, Indonesia’s agriculture technology and productivity falls behind neighboring countries, something we believe that we can improve the industry by improving the supply chain.