Jungle Ventures Explains its Philosophy and Investment Target

Jungle Ventures is a venture capitalist with an investment focus in Southeast Asia. They recently announced their achievements through their managed fund of $352 million. Over the past five years, 35 startups have been invested in -- some of them based in Indonesia, such as Sweet Escape, Kredivo, RedDoorz, Sociolla, and Waresix.

Interestingly, many of these portfolios have had a significant business pace in the midst of the pandemic. Take for example, Waresix which has achieved a value of over $100 million through series B funding. Also Sociolla who managed to book our $58 funding in series E . loop they. For this reason, Founding Partners Jungle Ventures Amit Anand emphasized his determination to continue to deepen his cooperation with the startup ecosystem in Indonesia.

DailySocial had the opportunity to talk with Amit about some of his plans in Indonesia.

Investment philosophy

Jungle Ventures' investment coverage is fairly even, from startups in the early stages (early stage) up to the next level (growth stage). Starting the chat, we're asking a question that may be quite "rhetorical" but important to understand their basics in investing. "Are you investing in founders or business models?"

Without a doubt Amit said that they always put it first founder. "We invest in future leaders who are able to build sustainable businesses. So regardless of economic unit, market size, and profitability path, our time and capital commitments are absolutely on the line. founder itself," he said.

"Built to Last" become a philosophy that is closely held by Jungle Ventures. This principle foundation allows them to build a portfolio of top startups in each category. For example, they choose to focus on Kredivo for financial services, Pomelo for fashion, Reddoorz for travel, Waresix for logistics, and so on.

Jungle Ventures takes a consolidated portfolio investment approach. It is carried out through several agendas including assisting direct leadership development, providing long-term capital, as well as assisting in financial balance management, joint investment, and strategic partnerships.

"We also believe in the importance of attracting and retaining the best talent, so that startups can increase growth [..] (Through that approach) Today, Jungle Ventures' startup portfolio is valued at over $4 billion, grew nearly 4,5x since its inception, and is still growing. continues to grow," added Amit.

He continued, “We believe that technology can connect people between cities and countries while still adapting to their culture. We invest in founder who share the vision of connecting this digital economy to overcome limitations in business models and market share.”

Investment targets

Amit specifically stated that he would roll out 5-6 investments every year, regardless of crisis conditions or not. Every year there are several themes that are focused on, for example related to consumertech, SME digitization, and SaaS. The market potential in Indonesia is clearly an important consideration. He also emphasized the importance of working with founder Indonesia with regional and global ambitions that exceed its domestic market.

Business growth is an effort that we want to do together. "Founder are often trained to make crazy moves toward revenue growth as the only way to success. Trying to force a $1 million company into $100 million before it's ready is doomed to fail. At Jungle, our approach to building a business is to prioritize sustainable growth over accelerated growth."

The point is, their commitment to long-term investment has implications for thinking and long-term partnerships as well. "We want to build the next Microsoft or Google in Asia and we know that this can't be done in just a few years. More than ever, we believe that only businesses that plan for uncertainty and are able to think long term will be successful going forward."

Pandemic adjustment

Covid-19 has clearly made venture capitalists things differently. Various limitations caused by the pandemic move consumers to adopt services online more quickly. Amit and the team also saw a tremendous increase in digital transformation taking place this year, compared to the last five years, especially in the Indonesian retail market. It is projected that in Q4 it will exceed the size in India.

"We're seeing a positive impact across several tech startups. For example, one of our portfolio companies Builder.ai (a platform that lets you build and design mobile apps independently) has seen significant consumer interest and overall growth. Builder.ai has gone from 45 days to just 48 hours to close the deal," Amit added.

He also believes that in the next ten years the Southeast Asia region will mostly become a digital economy with a massive level of digitalization like China today, with retail online contributed nearly a third.

However, some startups in certain landscapes have had an unfavorable impact. The advice that is always conveyed to the portfolio is to stick to the philosophy Build to Last. "We believe that a company's success lies in its founder's ability to learn, adapt, and guide the team through change management. Those who are able to do so will be able to make it through uncertainty, not just this pandemic."