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Alpha JWC Ventures expects more unicorn start-ups to emerge from fintech, consumer sector
Indonesia’s start-ups opportunity is tremendous, especially since the US-China tension has pushed investors to redirect their funds to Southeast Asia, and they are focusing on Indonesia as a big market.
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Alpha JWC Ventures cofounder and general partner Chandra Tjan. (-/Courtesy of Alpha JWC Ventures)
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em>Indonesia’s digital economy continues to flourish. The country’s gross merchandise value (GMV) is expected to grow from $40 billion in 2019 to $124 billion by 2025, making up a large portion of Southeast Asia’s projected $310 billion GMV that year, according to the e-Conomy SEA 2020 report by Google, Singapore state investor Temasek Holdings and business consultancy Bain & Co.
The country, with the second-highest number of unicorn start-ups in the region, also absorbed the biggest share – namely 45.8 percent – of the US$2.7 billion in fundraising deals booked in the region as of the second quarter last year, DealStreetAsia data shows.
So far, five Indonesian start-ups are valued at more than $1 billion and are as such considered unicorns: ride-hailing company Gojek, travel booking firm Traveloka, e-commerce outlets Bukalapak and Tokopedia and e-wallet provider OVO.
The Jakarta Post’s Farida Susanty and Eisya A. Eloksari on Feb. 5 interviewed Alpha JWC Venture’s cofounder and general partner Chandra Tjan, a former banker who left his job to become a venture capitalist and to learn more about the venture capital (VC) investment philosophy and the outlook for Indonesian start-ups.
Since it was founded in 2015, Alpha JWC Venture’s investment portfolio has grown to include online brokerage Ajaib, coffee chain Kopi Kenangan, digital credit card payment platform Kredivo and edutech platform Zenius, among others.
Question: Can you tell us more about Alpha JWC Ventures and its goals?
Answer: We are Indonesia’s top-tier VC firm. Our mission is to find and empower entrepreneurs who are able to become the next industry champions while also looking for companies that can be the next big thing. Our vision is to have a position in the global internet ecosystem and create a world-class capital firm from Indonesia.
