Brama One Ventures, An Industry Agnostic Venture Capitalist Focusing on Early Stage Startups

The presence of venture capitalists who come from family companies is increasingly mushrooming in Indonesia. After Prasetya Dwidharma, now venture capital made by a pair of brothers who have started to actively launch funding activities is Brama One Ventures (BOV).

To DailySocial, BOV CEO Bryant Budhiparama said the venture capital company was formed to add value to the nascent industry through an investment structure.

"We originally started out as angel investors. However, in the end Brama One shifted to building a structure and creating the right foundation to support the startup ecosystem and venture capital."

Together with his brother who also serves as CIO, Endrick Budhiparama, both are graduates of one of the best entrepreneurship programs in the United States, Babson College. From there they both understand and deepen the culture in entrepreneurship and startups.

"Brama One is industry agnostic and we are open to exploring any exciting opportunities. What's most important to us is that it can add strategic value to the company and free up startup founders to drive startup growth," said Bryant.

Not only focusing on Indonesia, currently Brama One Ventures has also invested in startups in other countries, including the United States and of course other countries in Southeast Asia. But in the end they have a commitment to focus on the Indonesian market, especially for startups in the early stages seed to pre-series A.

This option is carried out by Brama One according to their startup founder-oriented approach (founders); and that Brama One is growing rapidly in providing the right network and strategic value for startups.

"Indonesia is also our [main] focus, because ultimately we see an opportunity to help Indonesians access certain industries more easily, and also for small companies to be more efficient because of the use of digital platforms to help their businesses grow faster." Bryant said.

Until now, Brama One Ventures has provided investment to Halodoc, NalaGenetics, Ayoconnect, Dropee, Boom, Gomodo, Populix and Gotrade. Not just glancing at popular startups like healthtech, they have also provided immediate funding to the platform Esports to traveltech.

Want to add to your startup portfolio

Capital Venture The Surabaya-based startup also sees a different approach taken between startups from Jakarta and Surabaya. According to Bryant, they tend to want to get a different perspective on how users and potential customers use the platform outside Jakarta, because the culture also varies. This gives a better understanding of when a startup wants to scale up, how they can eventually serve other cities.

"Although we are based in Surabaya, our CIO is located in Jakarta and we also have several portfolio companies overseas. Digitalization has broken down barriers, and we are not limited by location. Regarding what we are looking for, because of the pandemic, everyone can work independently. remote. Therefore, the location for us is only the headquarters, but we are optimizing the platform that allows us to communicate efficiently," said Bryant.

There are still several plans that Brama One wants to achieve, including completing funding to 3-5 companies every year. Brama One also wants to strengthen their commitment to their current portfolio, and assist them in the investments needed to continue to drive growth and deliver value to customers.

Asked how the growth of the startup ecosystem in Indonesia will look like in the future, Bryant emphasized that Indonesia will always be one of the main locations for startups and their growth, due to the size of the population and the use of people on digital platforms. However, what is interesting to see in the near future is how the unicorn now in process for go public.

"It will create a paradigm shift in the end game. Where startups don't just see mergers and acquisitions (M&A) as a pathway to liquidity. It can also provide inspiration for new founders, and we're excited to see that drive and passion from future leaders."