- Programme to support development of 150 early-stage startups by 2024
- To accept 18 early-stage startups to programme, bringing total to 115
Startup Studio Indonesia (SSI), a startup accelerator programme backed by the Indonesian government, recently announced that its alumni have collectively secured funding worth US$65.8 million (RM305 million).
To continue the success of these startup developments, this programme by the Ministry of Communication and Informatics of Indonesia (Kominfo) has opened the registration for its seventh batch in May 2023 and welcomes promising founders.
According to the Ministry, Startup Studio Indonesia aims to assist its cohort to increase chances of funding by helping them focus on finding Product-Market Fit (PMF) as well as opportunities to network and learn from the best startup players in Asia.
It said in its seventh batch, Startup Studio Indonesia will continue its mission to support the development of early-stage startups to create products that meet market needs.
This will be done by improving product iterations, business models, and enhancing user retention before entering the market expansion phase, it added.
The Ministry of Communication and Informatics Indonesia said that the SSI programme can support the development of 150 early-stage startups by 2024.
It added that until the sixth batch, the programme has already captured approximately 97 early-stage startups. In the seventh batch, it targets to accept another 18 early-stage startups, bringing the total to 115, it added.
Director general of Informatics Applications at the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, Semuel Abrijani Pangerapan said the Indonesian government, through the Ministry of Communication and Information, is committed to continuously supporting startups in Indonesia, regardless of the challenging technological landscape.
“We will make every effort to support startups in Indonesia. We can anticipate the presence of extraordinary startups from Indonesia through the Startup Studio Indonesia programme,” he added.
To this end, the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology has opened SSI’s seventh batch for early-stage startups to develop products that meet market needs.
The Ministry said some of the main criteria for startups to participate in this programme include being in the bootstrap, pre-seed, seed, and pre-Series A funding stages, having at least six months of traction with a 5% month-on-month growth, having the potential to scale up, and having a differentiated product.
It added that startups interested in participating in the seventh batch can register directly on the startupstudio.id website. Due to the high number of promising startups from across the industries, this batch will welcome 18 founders, instead of the regular 15 from previous batches.
In this seventh batch, SSI will enhance one of the support facilities for participating startups, namely PMF modeling and each participant will be assisted by one business analyst assigned to guide the startup, it said.
According to the Ministry, PMF modeling is crucial to assess various indicators such as product retention, profit margin, whether it sufficiently covers acquisition and operational costs, and estimating how long it will take for the startup to mature and scale.
In addition to this, SSI will also facilitate participating startups even after the programme ends.
Various support options are offered to alumni startups, including additional brainstorming sessions with coaches and opportunities for collaboration with other startups and institutions, it said.
Since its launch in September 2020, approximately 30%-40% of the alumni have been able to secure seed or pre-seed funding after completing the programme.
In the ongoing batch six alone, two participating startups have already secured new funding. This includes supply chain management startup Baskit, obtained a pre-seed funding of US$1.5 million (RM6.9 million) in March 2023 and customer relationship management solution developer startup Looyal which also secured pre-seed funding in May 2023.
Participants in this government-supported programme will also receive guidance for a duration of four months from experienced coaches in the startup world. There are a total of approximately 110 coaches, some of whom include CEO & Founder of Xendit, Moses Lo; CEO & Co-Founder of eFishery, Gibran Huzaifah; CEO & Founder of IDNTimes, Winston Utomo; CEO & Co-founder of Halodoc, Jonathan Sudartha; COO & Acting CEO of Bukalapak, Willix Halim; and Managing Director & CCO of Gopay, Budi Gandasoebrata.
“We always aim to encourage and facilitate collaboration between participants, alumni, and coaches to build a sustainable tech ecosystem that benefits the people and our mission to accelerate the country’s digital economy,” Pangerapan said.