1. Startups

Grab Ventures Velocity x Sembrani Wira Passes 6 Startups, Focuses on Digitalizing MSMEs

The selected startups include Cooklab, Crewdible, Dagangan, iSeller, majoo, and Octopus

Last June 2021, Grab and BRI Ventures announced the launch Grab Ventures Velocity (GVV) Batch 4 x Sembrani Wira, a project that brings together accelerator programs Grab and BRI Ventures to support startup development in Indonesia.

After approximately 16 weeks of participating in a series of training and mentoring involving experts from various industries, the 6 best startups were finally selected, namely Cooklab, Crewdible, Dagangan, iSeller, majoo, and Octopus. Each startup has a representative solution that focuses on supporting the development of the MSME sector in Indonesia.

During the training program, three of them have managed to get funding. POS developer startup iSeller managed to raise pre-series B funding worth 120 billion Rupiah, social commerceTrade pocketed 163,7 billion Rupiah in the series A round, and services omnichannel for SMEs Majoo with a pre-series A round worth 56,6 billion Rupiah.

In the program with the theme 'Scaling Up Together: Empowering Startups, Supporting Micro Entrepreneurs' Currently, the finalists have tested products and business ideas through collaboration within the ecosystem Grab, starting from Grabkitchen, Grabfood, GrabMart, until GrabExpress to present solutions for MSMEs.

"The six batch 4 graduates showed significant growth in their contribution to MSMEs in Indonesia. They have gone through a pilot program in the ecosystem Grab and will continue to collaborate with us. Grab I also thank BRI Ventures for always supporting this program," said the Country Managing Director Grab Indonesia Neneng Goenadi.

Anthony Tan as Group CEO & Co-Founder Grab also involved in the event Impact Day, where the finalists made presentations and introduced business ideas to the network venture capital, followed by Sharing session. After graduating, the six startups had the opportunity to continue collaborating with services Grab, one of which is by providing services at Mitra Solutions GrabMerchant.

BRI Ventures CEO Nicko Widjaja added, "BRI Ventures is very pleased to be part of the GVV Batch 4 X Sembrani Wira program to provide support in terms of networking, mentorship, and also access to venture capital funding for these finalists [..] and today. We release the finalists in the hope that the benefits gained during the accelerator program can help them to develop even further."

Focus on digitizing MSMEs

In the release that was distributed, Teten Masduki as Minister of Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises of the Republic of Indonesia also expressed enthusiasm for the graduation of 6 finalist startups GVV Batch 4 x Sembrani Wira. He also said that the government had targeted 30 million digital MSMEs by 2024.

Through his speech, (16/8), the President of the Republic of Indonesia also said that the government continues to encourage the development of the digital economy ecosystem to increase people's productivity. Digitizing MSMEs that enter the application E-commerce and marketplace the number continues to grow. As of August this year, more than 14 million MSMEs or 22 percent of the total MSMEs have joined the electronic commerce application.

Currently, more and more initiatives are being launched to encourage the growth of the MSME sector in Indonesia. Start from the app point of sales (POS), service social commerce, digital financial records, as well as many more companies that are increasingly sharpening their focus to support the digitization of MSMEs.

More Coverage:

Minister of Communication and Information Johnny G. Plate added, “Digital startups are one of the keys to accelerating digital transformation in Indonesia. Synergy and collaboration are needed from all components of the nation to support and strengthen the growth and development of the national startup ecosystem."

From the investor side, BRI Ventures as the investment unit of the BRI bank with MSMEs as their main strategy, has just announced a new managed fund.Sembrani Kiqani' which focuses on targeting the D2C segment in order to improve the MSME ecosystem in Indonesia. Previously, through Sembrani Nusantara, BVI had invested in developers brand thirsty drink! and local shoe product developer Broth.

Are you sure to continue this transaction?
Yes
No
processing your transactions....
Transaction Failed
try Again

Sign up for our
newsletter

Subscribe Newsletter
Are you sure to continue this transaction?
Yes
No
processing your transactions....
Transaction Failed
try Again