Rumors of Stopping Operations, Ardent Labs Indonesia Immediately Launches Two New Startups

A growing rumor said that Ardent Labs Indonesia, an attempt by Ardent Capital to create innovative startups, will soon be shutting down due to failing to meet targets. Ardent Capital CEO Adrian Vanzyl confirmed that they are still operating and will even launch two new startups in the next few months, hopefully before the Eid al-Fitr holiday.

We visited Ardent Labs office in Jakarta, which was built after Ardent Capital received investation from Sinarmas Group. Currently, Ardent Labs has 80 employees. For the two startups that are planned to be launched, they already have more than 40 employees.

Vanzyl opened our conversation by saying that they are in the process of launching two new businesses by the end of June. The first is Bizzy, a B2B office supply company that will be involved in the procurement of various goods. While the second business is Snapcart, which is still in beta, which is an FMCG mobile application that provides cashback to its users who scan their shopping receipts.

For this year, Vanzyl said that the two startups will be the main focus of Ardent Labs. He added that they will start a new batch of Labs once the two startups are launched.

He hopes that the two startups can be used by the wider community by the end of June, along with WhatsNew Indonesia led by Andrew Senduk which focuses on e-commerce. In addition to running branches in Indonesia, the operational activities of several e-commerce startups Ardent Capital will also move to Indonesia.

When asked whether Ardent Labs supports the program entrepreneur-in-residence, Vanzyl replied that they do not have a program similar to an incubator, but that Ardent Labs will do their best to help startups funded by Ardent Capital.

Ardent Capital's Focus

On a broader scale, Vanzyl says that the term “Labs” is just a concept in the Ardent environment. To him, that thing is not an entity, but a methodology. Labs in Thailand has successfully launched aCommerce and WhatsNew/Moxy, and he expects the same to happen in Indonesia. When Ardent wants to re-launch a new startup in Thailand (and Indonesia), they will use a proven methodology like this one. The next country to be targeted by Ardent and its Labs is the Philippines.

When asked about his reasons for focusing on e-commerce, and specifically Indonesia, Vanzyl admitted that 90% of startup investments and stories exit what happens in Southeast Asia involves B2C companies, or people often call it e-commerce. With his knowledge and assets, Ardent recognizes his ability to drive e-commerce flows. Ardent predicts that this year Indonesia, especially Jakarta, will become the e-commerce center of Southeast Asia, and they want to be a part of it.