Indonesian Startups are Now the Investment Focus of Global Founders Capital

The startup industry in Indonesia can be said to have entered the next level after a few years ago it began to mature in terms of the community and existing startups. Many ordinary people are starting to care about and learn how to transact digitally, on the other hand the industry is growing with increasingly complete and complex services and technology. This condition makes global investors, such as Global Founders Capital (GFC), glanced Indonesia as the next investment target.

Actually, GFC already has several investments in Indonesia. Names such as Bridestory and Traveloka are included in the GFC portfolio list. As conveyed by Associate Global Founders Capital Leon John Hermann, who also leads the investment for Southeast Asia, his party has raised around $1 billion in funds at the end of 2016. Later these funds will be disbursed to more Indonesian startups.

"We are focused on Indonesia. It is very important to understand the economic unit and operating model in Indonesia to be able to operate in some of the major countries in Southeast Asia because it is the largest market. I spend most of my time in Indonesia [helping] care for the local ecosystem. We are also present in Malaysia, Singapore and China. In total we have 10 investments in the region," said John.

GFC is said to have several types of investments, such as disbursing funds ranging from $ 200.000 to $ 50 million for earlytraining. But do not rule out it could reach $ 150 million. GFC's largest investment itself is still in double digits (in million dollars)

John further explained that GFC plans to roll out investments for 3 to 5 startups in Indonesia within the next six months with a total investment of up to $10 million by the end of 2017. The sectors observed by the GFC are sectors healthtech and insurance tech.

Even though it has potential, Indonesia is also inseparable from several challenges. One of the crucial challenges, according to John, is a matter of regulation, including the question of ownership limits.