Gayo Capital Debuts as New Venture Entity from Ideosource

After Ideosource Entertainment As a subsidiary of a venture unit that accommodates investment in the entertainment business, Ideosource has again expanded its business scope. This time by inaugurating a new entity called “Gayo Capital”, which oversees the Ideosource Green Initiative.

To DailySocial, Co-Founder & Managing Director of Gayo Capital Edward Ismawan Chamdani said, this new venture company already has its own managed funds, consisting of "strategic investors" which become businesses at Gayo Capital; and in the future there will be "funds" according to the development of the developed investment thesis.

"Gayo was formally formed in early 2020, but we have been doing the forerunner of ideas and research since 2,5 years ago," said Edward.

Apart from Edward, Gayo Capital led by Ishara Yusdian, both of whom are fully responsible for operations and execution The roadmap already defined. Meanwhile, Jefri Sirait and Andi S. Boediman acted as advisor.

Gayo Capital's investment approach

The investment approach taken is quite unique, the focus is on two things. First, Gayo targets companies that work on a large traditional/conventional market share, for example in agriculture, logistics, retail, supply chain leaders, and others. However, they ensure that the nuances of technology can be a component of the disruption. Ideosource's experience is expected to improve the digital transformation process in order to improve business.

Second, founder see structure pattern fund in venture capital does not match the thesis of investing in conventional companies. There needs to be a breakthrough to bridge the gap. So it was formed operating holdings, combine Model "venture debt". Enables companies to obtain funding that is working capital, but still equity-intensive; in financial terminology it is called "quasi-equity".

"However, after developing this pattern, we will still combine it with the model venture capital generally with structure fund that close-ended also, in particular for our investment in companies that pure-tech," Edward continued. "What we hope is basically to form a 'reversed conglomeration', where the companies we help and invest in are able to innovate and make breakthroughs in their respective sectors and make changes in business patterns that are bottom-up."

So that in addition to providing capital assistance, it is hoped that operating holdings Ideosource can play a role in providing direction, opening networks, providing access to capital, and forming synergies between companies.

"Gayo Capital as operating holding company already has investments in several companies such as Inacom, PT Farmer Cocoa Lampung, WLabku, Hydro Retailindo, Foom.id; and there are several other portfolios that are in process mentoring and initial investment," said Edward.

Optimize business potential in Indonesia

In particular, Edward also shared why Gayo Capital is focused on business in Indonesia. There are quite principal reasons; He gave an example that the coconut, cocoa, pepper, and other agricultural sectors are still mostly managed by smallholder farmers. But there is no disruption on the side yet supply chain leaders which provides efficiency in the process of buying and selling, export-import, to product innovation.

“While we know that Indonesia's demographics are the strongest in the world for this sector and land archipelago it has been the target of the whole world since the colonial era, it's time for innovation to grow not from top-down only, we hope bottom-up can be more and more and dare to step, “explained Edward.

Gayo through his social foundation will also enter the special education sector for farmers with a specific curriculum according to the land they manage; currently in the discussion stage with the stakeholder who will be involved.

Investing in the midst of a pandemic

The debut coupled with the crisis caused by the pandemic did not make the spirit of the founder of Gayo Capital fade. To Edward and the team, timing become one of the key components coupled with strategy, The roadmap, team and capital to execute on time

"In every crisis there must be a greater opportunity, just as a ball that we press into the water will bounce higher and faster when released," said Edward, giving an example. "Every week we are contacted by 1 to 3 Asian and American financial companies who are interested in getting to know Gayo Capital more deeply, so we see that the sector we are working on is indeed the right one."

The changes that will be "New normal" has also been anticipated. Edward also saw that the shaded sectors are also increasingly focusing on transparency. This is because each party is increasingly technologically literate, so technology opportunities can be elaborated in it.