Indonesia Weekly Review: 6 Stories You Don’t Want To Miss This Week [30 January – 4 February]

Grab To Invest $700 Mn In Indonesia To Battle GoJek

Taxi-hailing platform Grab has launched a ‘Grab 4 Indonesia’ 2020 master plan. The plan aims to support Indonesia’s goal of becoming Southeast Asia’s largest digital economy by 2020. Under the plan, Grab will invest $ 700 Mn in Indonesia over the next four years.

According to the terms of the scheme, Grab will open a Grab R&D centre in Jakarta and will develop a local engineering team to work on innovations for the Indonesian market. It will also launch a social impact fund to invest in companies focussed on deepening financial inclusion and bringing more Indonesians into the digital economy. It will also work towards expanding access to mobile payments and financing opportunities by continuing to launch and enhance Grab’s own mobile services.

Grab will further invest up to $100 Mn in startups or aspiring technopreneurs. The fund will focus on the mobile and financial services industries, with a particular emphasis on serving smaller cities and communities who have yet to benefit from the digital economy.

Baca To Support Nulis With $10 Mn Funding

News aggregator Baca will reportedly back Nulis.co.id, a community site that allows users to write and publish their own stories with $10 Mn funding.

Baca is a news reader app in Indonesia. It claims to have 1 Mn daily active users in Indonesia. Each day, the app collects between 20,000 to 25,000 articles from 500 publications. Baca analyses which news gets read by the app users, and serves them content based on those preferences.

In July 2016, it raised $20 Mn in funding in a Series B round led by Bertelsmann Asia Investment Fund. Chenchao Zhuang and Crystal Stream Capital also participated in the round.

Cermati Raises Funding From Orange Growth Capital

Fintech startup Cermati has secured funding from VC firm Orange Growth Capital (OGC).

The funding will be used for expanding its team, product, and technical development, as per a report by Dealstreet Asia. Post the investment, Hans de Back, Partner at Orange Growth Capital, will join Cermati’s board.

The startup aids users to research and get financial products, such as credit cards, auto loans, personal loans and mortgages as per their needs.

Indonesia Gets A New Business Incubator

The Indonesian Stock Exchange (IDX) has launched a business incubator programme. The programme is open to startups from all stages. As per an official statement, around 20 startups will be selected and will receive mentorship, training, access to co-working space, funding sources and promotion provided by the IDX from January–July 2017.

As per a Dealstreet Asia report, selected startups will have to pay between $56 (Rp 750,000) and $75 (Rp 1,000,000) for the coworking space. Other amenities would include meals, internet, and other basic equipments.

Gaming Developer Toge Productions Secures Funding

Indonesia-based game developers Toge Productions has raised an undisclosed amount in funding from Chinese gaming giant Zhexin IT Co. The investment has been facilitated through latter’s investment arm, Discovery Nusantara Cpital (DNC).

As per an official statement, the funds raised will be deployed towards growth and global expansion.

Bank Central Asia Launches VC Fund With $15 Mn Corpus For Fintech Startups

Indonesia’s private sector bank, Bank Central Asia has launched a VC fund for fintech startup, Central Capital Venturra (CCV) with a corpus of $15 Mn.