Achmad Zaky Establishes Init-6 Investment Company, Provides Initial Funding for Edtech Education Platform

Bukalapak Co-Founder and Init-6 Founding Partner Achmad Zaky announced the establishment of the Init-6 investment company that focuses on investing in early-stage startups. Bukalapak Co-Founder Nugroho Herucahyono also joined the company as a partner after leaving the position of CTO of Bukalapak. Init-6 made its first investment into the edtech platform Eduka.

To DailySocial, the official Zaky resign from the position of CEO of Bukalapak earlier this year mentioned the presence of the Covid-19 pandemic as the thing that prompted the establishment of this investment fund. init-6 is a UNIX command which means reboot or reset. According to Zaky, Covid-19 requires humans to live in a new style (or known as "new normal"). They believe that we need toreboot or reset the way we live.

Previously, Zaky said that after he was no longer active at Bukalapak, he would focus on foundations engaged in science and education, entrepreneurship, impact investing, and research.

So far, Zaky said that the managed funds still come from General Partners, nothing from Limited Partners. However, he did not want to go into further details on this matter, including how much funds are currently under management.

Init-6 will focus on investing in early-stage startups without any particular sector preference. "[Important] As long as tech driven and supported great founders," said Zaky.

Invest in Education

Education became the first startup that Init-6 invested in. This educational technology platform was initiated by students and alumni of the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB). Eduka was built as a practice platform (try out) students face UTBK and USM at various universities. This platform claims to have 800 registered users and 180 active students every month.

Zaky said that Eduka reminded him of the experience 10 years ago in building Bukalapak. Now this company has become one of the unicorn startups in Indonesia.

He revealed, "When we first met the founders of Eduka, we were very impressed with their achievements. They built [the platform] from scratch, with no capital. [..] We hope they can graduate this year quickly and develop Eduka even faster. Education is a big [opportunity] space and we believe Eduka can have a better impact on the Indonesian education system."

"We built the Eduka System because we believe students in Indonesia have good academic potential if trained properly. Unfortunately, we know that there are many students who only focus on memorizing theory without understanding its application. This limits their ability to solve complex problems. unlock their potential by providing High Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) exercises that are easy to apply and connected to everyday life so that they are accustomed to dealing with complex problems. With the help of technology, we believe we can improve the [quality] of education in Indonesia," said Faiz, The CEO of Eduka who is still in college.