Shinhan Financial Group Prepares Incubator Program for Indonesian Startups

As one of South Korea's commercial banks, Shinhan Financial Group started its presence in Indonesia through a partnership with Indomobil in the financing business. Earlier this year, the company plans to expand its business in the finance sector. Not only that, they plan to launch a startup incubator in Indonesia, called Shinhan Future's Lab, in the third quarter of 2019. A similar program has been implemented in Vietnam as the first incubator outside South Korea in 2016.

There are no details about this incubator program and what kind of startups can be participants. Fintech services, particularly those related to the banking sector, brokerage and securities financing, and asset management, are being targeted the incubator program.

Partnership with hub innovation

Besides Indonesia, Shinhan Future's Lab is also planned to be presented in the United States and Great Britain in 2020. To advance the plan, Shinhan Financial Group is exploring collaborations with Plug and Play Tech Center in Silicon Valley and Level39 in London.

"For the alumni, they will not only get additional capital, but they can also take advantage of support in the form of research and business development so that they can do business scale-up to the global market," said Shinhan Financial's Head of Digital Strategy Cho Young-su.

Since its inauguration in 2015, Shinhan Future's Lab has recruited around 72 South Korean startups in four batches with a total funding allocation of around 12 billion won (approximately 143 billion Rupiah) until last year.