Indonesia Weekly Review: 5 Archipelago Startup Stories That You Don’t Want To Miss This Week [5 December – 10 December]

With a population of more than 250 Mn and consistent annual gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 5-6% since 2004, the Republic of Indonesia has captured the world’s attention as the next big land of opportunity. Recognising Indonesia as a startup epicentre, here are the biggest developments pertaining to startups, from the island nation this week. 

Matahari Opens Department Store #152 in Ketapang

Matahari Mall, Indonesia’s first and largest retailer of fashion apparel, beauty, and home products opened its 152nd store, located at the Citimall Ketapang shopping center in West Kalimantan, on Thursday.

It is the retailer’s 14th store in Kalimantan. Citimall Ketapang was chosen as it is the biggest shopping center in Delta Pawan subdistrict, offering a strategic location. The new Matahari store provides an upmarket and pleasant shopping atmosphere with an eco-friendly LED lighting system and high standards of service.

Targeting middle-class customers, Matahari believes it will become the fashion trendsetter in Ketapang.

Franklin Templeton Ranks Indonesia High On Shopping List In 2017

Global investment fund Franklin Templeton Investments gave a favourable look towards the emerging startup markets next year with Indonesian startups remaining high on the fund’s shopping list.

According to the fund, emerging markets’ economic growth is robust and accelerating, which could help them navigate the expected short-term market volatility induced by interest rate increase in the US, Donald Trump’s presidency, UK’s progress toward leaving the European Union, or commodity-price swings.

Connecting Startups To Investors – Telkom Initiates Indigo Demo Day Phase II 2016

To support and develop digital startups in Indonesia, PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Telkom) held the Indigo Demo Day event Phase II as one of a series of incubation and acceleration for startup initiated by Telkom. Indigo Demo Day was held in Jakarta – aimed to bridge the gap between startups and potential investors.

Director of Digital & Strategic Portfolio Indra Utoyo Telkom said in his speech, Telkom opened up opportunities for startup product synergies to be exploited into a broader business ecosystem. “Telkom will also introduce quality Indigo startup to investors in order to provide an opportunity to get a bigger investment for startups,” he said.

Indra Utoyo ,which oversees the Indigo Creative Nation (ICN) programme, said that the whole progress of ICN program will be presented to the stakeholders.

Indigo Demo Day also provides a startup with opportunities to be exploited in a broader business ecosystem. The Demo Day event was packed with pitching and exhibition models for startups to develop wider networking through interaction with the visitors. Every startup was given a 7 minute-presentation opportunity in front of the parties as well.

KFit Acquires Groupon Malaysia

Healthtech startup KFit has bought Groupon’s Malaysia operations. As per an official statement, the move solidifies KFit’s foray into the deals space. Prior to this transaction, the company added deals for massage and spa on its app and launched a separate deals app called Fave.

Fave offers people vouchers for food and certain activities, with discounts ranging from 10 to 70%. It’s available in Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, and Singapore, listing over 3,200 businesses across these cities.

Founded in 2015, KFit gained popularity by offering unlimited gym and fitness classes for a fixed monthly fee. It tweaked its model this year, limiting membership to 10 classes per month, and then branched out into deals for massage, spa, and beauty services in a bid to gain a new revenue stream.

The Groupon acquisition will be absorbed into Fave early next year, and expand Fave’s offerings to cover restaurants, beauty, wellness, gyms, studios, hotels, holidays, leisure, entertainment, and professional services.

Fintech Startup Cicil.co Raises Seed Funding From East Ventures

Indonesian financing platform Cicil.co has raised an undisclosed seed funding round from East Ventures.

The startup aims to answer Indonesia’s financial inclusion issue among university students. The country’s credit card penetration rate is at one per cent, with banking penetration at 20 per cent, based on data by the state’s central statistics bureau. According to Cicil.co, under this situation, Indonesian students have the lowest access to finance in Southeast Asia.

To use Cicil.co’ service, students only have to fill in an application form and have their credit worthiness reviewed by the platform’s big data analytics. Once approved, students can pay in instalments through various ecommerce platforms, without having the need to own a credit card.