Luat Sihombing, Matchmaking Business Team Chairman, said all of the selected startups had completed a series of programs, namely Business Mentoring, Business Matchmaking, Startup Gathering, Promotional Roadshow, Networking session, Pitch Training with prominent Trainer Peter Browne, Demo Day, and Global Immersion.

“As many as 138 business matchmaking between startups and private and state-owned enterprises (SOEs) have been held,” he said at the HUB.ID Accelerator 2022 highlight on Monday.

Apart from that, as many as 144 business matchmaking between startups and government ministries have been held through the Networking Roadshow in six cities, namely Balikpapan, Surabaya, Medan, Makassar, Denpasar and Bandung. “Of the 144 business matchmaking, 31 will be followed up,” he added.

Under the HUB.ID initiative, PasarMIKRO and Grouu, two assisted digital startups, have managed to secure funds in 2022 as a follow up of the initiative.

HUB.ID Accelerator 2022 focuses on helping startups to boost access to funding and business networking through business matchmaking by taking advantage of large networks owned by SOE corporations and the government sector.

HUB.ID Accelerator 2022 is part of the efforts to support the national digital transformation ecosystem that President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo” has mandated as the government’s central policy. 

In 2021, the Communications and Information Ministry implemented the HUB.ID initiative and produced 43 digital startups and 47 partners from cooperatives and SOEs, including the government.

PasarMIKRO’s co-founder and CEO Dien Wong, explained that PasarMIKRO was an agritech startup company that provided a solution through a marketplace platform for commodities and finance for the agribusiness sector covering agriculture, plantation and fishery.

He revealed that PasarMIKRO secured US$2.5 million or around Rp 39 billion from the Trihill Capital and Resolution Ventures-led initial capital. Genting Ventures, 1982 Ventures and other investors also took part in extending the funds.

“When taking part in the program, we were in the process of raising funds. We managed to have access to the funds when we were engaged in business matchmaking and networking sessions through which we met representatives from the ministries and the SOEs, corporations and private sector at the central level. When we were on the ground and in cities, we met with representatives of the related offices,” he said.

“Aside from the funding, the program also allows us to boost our exposure, either to investors or to other parties, to gain value physically,” he added.

Meanwhile, Grouu Baby Food CEO and co-founder Jessica Martin highlighted the benefits of joining the HUB.ID Accelerator 2022.

She said the HUB.ID Accelerator 2022 had provided the company with an opportunity to set up business collaborations with stakeholders, one of which was an opportunity to collaborate with PT Berdikari.

She revealed that Grouu was a startup focusing on producing food for children and babies. “Grouu secured the funding through an investment led by Teja Ventures, with other participating investors including Arkana Ventures and Javas Capital.

According to Jessica, Dapur Grouu (Grouu Kitchen) will be rolled out in Surabaya, East Java, on Dec. 12, 2022 thanks to a series of programs that HUB.ID provided, especially the Networking Session.

“We attended a coaching by Peter Browne, who helped us on how to present products better. This is a very impressive phase,” she said.

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