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Executive Column: Angel investor says start-ups should ‘IPO while hot’
Angel investor and CEO of Prasetia Dwidharma, Arya Setiadharma, says start-ups now have access to more funding options, including to go public while the companies are "still hot".
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Investment firm Prasetia Dwidharma CEO Arya Setiadharma (Courtesy of Prasetia Dwidharma/-)
I
ndonesian tech start-ups received US$4.7 billion in funding in the first half of the year – more than in the whole year of 2020 – according to the e-Conomy 2021 report produced by Google, Temasek and Bain & Co.
Founders now have more funding options for new companies than a decade ago, as the country’s digital economy continues to grow. The report shows that investors’ appetite for seed and early-stage funding has never been higher.
The Jakarta Post’s Eisya A. Eloksari interviewed Arya Setiadharma, an angel investor and the CEO of investment firm Prasetia Dwidharma, on Dec. 1 to get insights on how founders can find the best match for their capital needs. Below are excerpts from the interview, which has been edited for brevity.
Question: How has the start-up scene changed in the past 10 years?
Answer: The most drastic change is how local investors' interest in the tech ecosystem has skyrocketed in the past decade, so the number of deals and capital flow has exploded. Funding was dominated by foreign venture capital and investors back then, but now founders have many options to raise capital locally.
Second, Indonesia’s market size is growing due to rapid digital adoption in the past three years, catalyzed by smartphone use, which has enabled users in nonurban areas to access digital solutions.
