Over the last year, Indonesia has lived up to the promise that it could become one of the great startup hubs in Southeast Asia. The region’s negative economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic were able to be mitigated by its startup ecosystem. The government and its Ministry of Communications and Informatics also provided substantial support to ensure the Indonesia tech startups scene would grow in the long term.
According to the eConomy SEA report by Google, Temasek, and Bain & Company, Indonesia’s internet economy will have a gross merchandise value (GMV) of USD 146 billion by 2025. Therefore, there are valid reasons to focus on the country’s businesses.
On that note, let’s take a look at Indonesia top tech startups to look out for in 2023:
Jago
Mobile café company Jago operates a network of fully-electric mobile carts that bring coffee products directly to the customers. The company primarily serves people in areas with high coffee demand but has few cafés to meet those needs. Jago focuses on sustainability, and its mobile app offers convenience to Indonesians who want coffee.
Recently, Jago raised USD 2.2 million in a pre-series A round from investors, including BEENEXT, Arkblu Capital, and CyberAgent Capital. The money will increase Jago’s mobile fleet to 200 electric café carts. Furthermore, the funds will boost the company’s technology platform, enabling it to improve its services and provide better sustainable solutions for the future. With more companies now committed to reducing their carbon emissions, these improvements will serve Jago and its customers well in 2023.
Social Bella
Beauty company Social Bella, which operates the online shopping platform Sociolla, provides omnichannel solutions such as beauty products, mother and baby items, and other beneficial options for women. It is focused on sustainability while offering disruptive and innovative products, and it seeks to continue its regional expansion plans.
Social Bella has bagged USD 60 million in a funding round led by Temasek Holdings and L Catterton. Other investors included East Ventures, Jungle Ventures, and Pavilion Capital. The beauty startup will use the money as part of its expansion plans and improve its product offering. According to its co-founder Christopher Madiam, Social Bella will focus on sustainable growth in the coming years.
Neliti
Education technology (edtech) company, Neliti, aims to liberate knowledge by empowering people to set up and manage a content management system (CMS) where they can post their journals, institutional repositories, or academic conferences. It offers a free-to-use website builder and a search engine for educational content posted using the platform. The company aims to democratise access to scientific information to solve the world’s problems.
Neliti’s goal is to simplify the website-making process for its customers, leading to better-looking websites for customers who are not naturally gifted in site design. The target market is primarily academics and librarians who need a straightforward solution for posting their academic content free of charge on an attractive website.
Waste4Change
Leading waste-management company Waste4Change is a social enterprise providing ethical and responsible solutions to turn Indonesia into a zero-waste nation. It seeks to shift the waste-management ecosystem in the country into a collaborative and technology-based system geared toward a circular economy. A circular economy follows a sustainable model of using and reusing finite resources, preventing pollution, stopping waste production, and using renewable energy.
How Waste4Change wants to completely change waste management in Indonesia
Waste4Change recently raised USD 5 million in a Series A funding round. Investors include SMDV, Living Lab Ventures, Barito Mitra Investama, Urban Gateway Fund, AC Ventures, Delapan Satu Investa, Paloma Capital, and Basra Corporation. Agaeti Venture Capital and East Ventures participated in the initial venture round. The newly raised capital will aid expansion and increase waste management capacity to thousands of tonnes per day. Its technology-based approach will enhance reporting in the industry and ensure better management by everyone in the ecosystem.
Ayoconnect
Open finance company Ayoconnect provides a full stack of financial API (application programming interface) solutions for businesses to deliver innovative services. Customers get greater control over the data they share with third-party financial providers to access a particular service. More than 200 Indonesia tech startups use Ayoconnect, and it saves them from having to develop technology from scratch. They can simply access the apps they need from Ayoconnect and integrate them into their platforms.
Ayoconnect recently raised USD 13 million from Susquehanna International Group (SIG), PayU, and CreditEase Fintech Investment Fund, bringing its total to USD 43 million. Its other investors include Tiger Global Management, Patamar Capital, Ilham Habibie, Paul Bernard, Jeff Lin, Alto Partners Multi-Family Office, and Mandiri Capital Indonesia (MCI). Product development, expansion, and accelerating the delivery of new solutions are priorities for the fintech startup.
The Indonesia top tech startups listed above show that the ecosystem is robust and will present many investment opportunities next year. Moreover, these companies will bring innovative solutions to the market while incorporating sustainability into their business models.