Indonesia expects to have more than 5 unicorns by 2019: minister
February 19, 2018 / 10:52 AM
JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia is likely to have more than five startups worth at least $1 billion each by 2019, with healthcare and education the most promising sectors to spawn new unicorns in Southeast Asia’s biggest economy, the communications minister told Reuters.
Driven by a youthful population of more than 250 million people owning at least 100 million smartphones, Indonesia has seen a rapid growth in the number of startups trying to capitalize on this potential in a growing economy.
The country currently has four unicorns - companies that have reached $1 billion in valuation without tapping the stock markets - including ride-hailing company Go-Jek, travel site Traveloka, and market places Bukalapak and Tokopedia.
“In ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations) we have seven unicorns and, out of seven, four are coming from Indonesia,” said Minister of Communication and Information Rudiantara, noting that even one of the unicorns in the region outside Indonesia derived most of its revenue from the country.
“I believe that we’ll have more than five unicorns until 2019,” Rudiantara, who uses one name, said in an interview.
Investors in Go-Jek include Tencent Holdings (0700.HK), with Alphabet Inc’s (GOOGL.O) Google joining the latest fundraising. Tokopedia has backing from Alibaba (BABA.N) and SoftBank Group (9984.T), while Traveloka’s backers include Expedia (EXPE.O) and JD.com (JD.O). Bukalapak investors include Singapore’s GREE Ventures.
The minister said that a unicorn was likely to come from the education sector.
“If we see the numbers, I project that has to come from the education (sector),” he said.
Under Indonesia’s constitution, the government has to spend a fifth of its annual budget on education, so even excluding private spending an app or startup only needed to get a small percentage of this “huge” potential, he said.
Indonesia’s state budget for education was 400 trillion rupiah ($29.50 billion) in 2017.
The minister said the biggest local app for education currently was Ruanguru.
The other most promising sector to develop a unicorn is healthcare, which has a state budget of more than 100 trillion rupiah, he said.
He noted the development of startups like HaloDoc offering online medical consultation, while others include Alodokter.
On funding, the minister said that he wanted to help make it easier for unicorns to apply for initial public offerings in Indonesia. Local regulations prevent listings before companies have made a profit for a number of years.
“If necessary, I will go to the OJK (financial regulator) to solve this issue,” he said, adding the government should no longer be just a regulator.
“It’s an old model. The government has to be the facilitator,” said Rudiantara.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...han-5-unicorns-by-2019-minister-idUSKCN1G310J
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...han-5-unicorns-by-2019-minister-idUSKCN1G310J
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Indonesia offers 3 industrial estates for Singapore development
February 19, 2018 / 10:52 AM
JAKARTA - Indonesia’s Industry Minister Airlangga Hartarto said on Monday (Feb 19) he has offered the development of three industrial estates in the country to Singapore.
Speaking in Jakarta, Mr Airlangga said the estates being offered for development were Tanah Kuning Industrial Estate in North Kalimantan, Kuala Tanjung Industrial Estate in North Sumatra and Bitung Industrial Estate in North Sulawesi.
He said the concept of the estates was similar to the development of other industrial estates in the country, such as the Kendal Industrial Park in Central Java, The Jakarta Post reported, citing the Kompas news website.
“Singapore is a neighbouring country that has a strategic role in the interests of Indonesia and the region,” Mr Airlangga was quoted saying.
Mr Airlangga met with Singapore’s Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan in Jakarta last week to discuss cooperation in various sectors.
Dr Balakrishnan had been in Jakarta for a two-day working visit that included a meeting with his counterpart Retno Marsudi, Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan and Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs Luhut Pandjaitan.
During the visit, Dr Balakrishnan said negotiations for a bilateral investment treaty between Indonesia and Singapore would begin later this month, while talks on a double taxation agreement were set to start soon. Dr Balakrishnan had pointed to the two negotiations to illustrate how the Indonesia-Singapore leaders’ retreats held in recent years had helped enhance bilateral cooperation between the two countries.
In addition to cooperating on investments, the two countries are also cooperating in improving the quality of vocational education in Indonesia. Singapore, Mr Airlangga noted, had a role in developing a furniture polytechnic at the Kendal Industrial Park that is slated to start operating this year with an inaugural class of 96 students.
The polytechnic in the 2,700ha park — being jointly developed by Singapore’s Sembcorp Development and Indonesia’s industrial estate developer PT Jababeka — was first announced at the Leaders’ Retreat between President Joko Widodo and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in Singapore last September.
Last week, the two Foreign Ministers said four more tenants had signed up to operate in the park, bringing to 36 the total number of firms there and that the park would generate about 5,000 jobs.
Mr Airlangga added that 25 principals of vocational senior high schools across Indonesia would also be taking part in a leadership training program at Singapore’s Institute of Technical Education that was expected to begin on Monday and run until March 3.
Singapore was the largest contributor of foreign investment in Indonesia in 2017, investing US$8.4 billion (S$11 billion), or 26.2 per cent of total foreign investment in Indonesia. The Republic was followed by Japan with US$5 billion and China with US$3.4 billion.
http://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se...-industrial-estates-for-singapore-development
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