On Monday, June 22, in Jakarta, the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) released the list of its new commissioners for the 2020-2023 period, which is to be confirmed through an annual general stakeholder meeting today.

One of them was a familiar name in the local, perhaps even regional, tech startup ecosystem: Pandu Sjahrir.

Currently holding the position of Founding Partner of AC Ventures, Sjahrir has a long track record in the startup scene. He is widely known for his involvement in leading names such as gojek (as Board Member) and Sea Group (Chairman of Indonesia) as well as Xurya (Board Member) and Antler (Advisory Board).

He is also the Managing Partner of Indies Capital, which controls Indies Special Opportunities Fund, the leading alternative asset manager in the region, and Indies Pelago, a secondary tech fund in Southeast Asia.

Outside of the startup ecosystem, Sjahrir is the CFO of publicly listed energy company PT. Toba Bara Sejahtera Tbk, that was selected as Forbes’ Top 30 leading companies in Indonesia.

“My goal here is to find an outlier,” he speaks to e27 over the phone.

Also Read: Portable wifi rental service startup Passpod officially listed on IDX, raises US$3.2M

In this special interview, the startup investor reveals more details about the vision and mission for IDX –and how he is going to bring more Indonesian startups to get listed on the stock exchange.

A fresh start for IDX

Sjahrir begins our conversation by explaining the stock exchange goals in the next period: Increasing the participation of the younger generation –particularly Gen Y and Z– in the capital market and encouraging Indonesian tech startups to go public.

“As you might be aware of, there has not been any major tech company listed on the IDX,” he points out.

“It’s a completely different story with China and the US where the top 10 capitalisations are owned by tech companies. In Indonesia, it is still being dominated by banking and telco companies –exactly how it was 10 years ago,” Sjahrir continues.

He further elaborates how these two goals will support each other. By having more younger investors, major tech companies such as the local unicorns are expected to consider listing in Indonesia instead of other capital markets.

“We need to take a more active role in preventing them from leaving to other capital markets. Because we have to remember: The bigger guys, they have options,” Sjahrir warns.

Also Read: IDX-listed M Cash launches new partnership to digitise ‘warung’

By having these “cool” tech companies on IDX, the younger generation is also expected to be more interested in investing in the capital market.

“What we are doing here is deepening the demand, particularly by having more young investors on board. This is something that starts with education about the capital market,” Sjahrir says.

Trouble in the ecosystem?

In 2017, Kioson and M Cash made headlines when they became the first local tech startups to get listed on IDX, followed by several other companies.

These movements had led to speculation in the media on the possibilities for major tech startups in Indonesia –particularly the unicorns and decacorns– to have their IPOs soon after. But three years have passed and we are still waiting for these companies to make their move.

What will be the stock exchange’s strategy to encourage these unicorns to get listed on IDX, and not anywhere else?

“We have to be more market-friendly in various aspects, [starting] from regulation to the founder’s shares treatment. Like in the US, there is a difference in the treatment, and this is what Indonesia is currently studying. There is also got to be minority shareholder protection, which OJK is concerned about,” Sjahrir states.

Also Read: Portable wifi rental service startup Passpod officially listed on IDX, raises US$3.2M

But what is actually the challenges faced by Indonesian startups that have been preventing them from being listed? According to Sjahrir, there are two main hurdles: Profitability and founder shares treatment.

“The latter is the part where we are still ‘stuck’ on. In the US, founders are allowed to have different voting rights. We aim to address these issues to remain competitive with the other stock exchanges,” he says.

The focus

In this new period, IDX aims to get 20 to 40 companies on board, but Sjahrir says that they do not wish to be burdened by quantity. There is got to be a focus on the quality as well, he stresses.

“We need to start with the mindset first, how to capitalise on tech companies in Indonesia. Because the main difference between us and Singapore and Thailand is that our capital market is smaller than our GDP,” Sjahrir points out.

“So our focus is on how to increase the market capitalisation of the companies on the stock exchange,” he closes.

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Image Credit: Pandu Sjahrir

The post As IDX commissioner, this is how Pandu Sjahrir aims to help more Indonesian startups go public appeared first on e27.

Grab CTO Mark Porter quits to join MongoDB

Mark Porter, CTO (Core Technologies and Transport) is leaving Grab, making him the second CTO to depart the firm since the start of 2019.

Group CTO Theo Vassilakis had relinquished his position in April last year but remained an advisor at the Singapore-based company.

Porter wrote in a blogpost that he will be assuming the CTO role at NASDAQ-listed SaaS firm MongoDB on July 20.

Also Read: As IDX commissioner, this is how Pandu Sjahrir aims to help more Indonesian startups go public

“Grab has been a privilege and a gift; being a tech leader with the mission to bring the economy and people of Southeast Asia forward has been amazing. I’m leaving one family and joining another – and for anybody who knows me, they know that’s hard – I’m pretty sappy and emotional about this kind of stuff,” he said.

“My goal at MongoDB is to help our great teams develop technology and products that delight anybody who touches them. That’s been my goal for over 40 years, from my first 6502-assembly game or HP41CX program, to the latest Grab ride-hailing app,” he added.

Singapore’s health-tech startup Plano receives investment from Santen

Singapore-based health-tech startup Plano has received an undisclosed sum in investment from Japanese company Santen Pharmaceutical as part of strategic alliance between the two firms.

Under this deal, Santen, through Plano, will initiate to tackle the burden of myopia using both a holistic approach and innovative technological solutions.

“This funding and strategic alliance with Santen will play an instrumental role in growing Plano’s user engagement, strengthen its Big Data analytics and Artificial Intelligence capabilities, and drive its international expansion plans,” said Plano’s Managing Director Associate Professor Mohamed Dirani.

Launched in 2017 by Dirani, Plano is an eye health-tech company and is a spin-off from the Singapore Eye Research Institute (SERI). Its key products include the plano application and the online optometry booking system, Plano Eyecheck.

The science-based plano application has been adopted by more than 250,000 households.

Santen specialises in ophthalmology based on a thorough customer orientation, including patients and healthcare professionals.

In recent years, it has focused its attention on medical devices and digital technologies, and has continued to take on the challenge of contributing to the health of the eyes of people around the world through activities that meet the needs of customers in each region, as well as offering products and solutions that cover a wide range of disease fields.

Eko acquires Thai chatbot platform ConvoLab

Eko, a virtual workspace technology platform in Thailand, has acquired Artificial Intelligence (AI) and chatbot platform ConvoLab in a “8-figure USD” deal.

Additionally, Eko has has launched parent company Amity, which is focused on helping organisations, teams, and people to fully-benefit from new mobile technologies and digitisation.

Amity brings together three pre-existing technology solutions to make up its portfolio — Eko, Upstra (an app development kit for building in-app community experiences), and ConvoLab.

Further, the company will continue to power and expand these products out of their four core global offices in Bangkok, London, Austin, and Milan.

ConvoLab’s acquisition, completed through a mix of stock and cash, was finalised ahead of Amity’s launch.

Established in 2016, ConvoLab automates business processes by helping their clients engage with their customers through various channels using best-in-its-class AI natural language processing (NLP).

“ConvoLab is at the forefront of developing machine learning, chat management platforms and work automation. By joining forces, we’ll be able to provide customers with an ecosystem of expertise and services competitive and unique at a global level,” said Korawad Chearavanont, who now becomes the CEO of Amity.

Cocoon Capital launches Female Founders Mentoring Hours in SEA

Cocoon Capital has launched Female Founders Mentoring Hours (FFMH) for Southeast Asian entrepreneurs.

FFMH will offer female founders 1-on-1 remote mentoring sessions with some of the region’s most prominent VCs, creating a rare opportunity to both pitch ideas and to receive friendly, on-the-spot advice.

Also Read: AppWorks joins Indonesian edutech startup InfraDigital’s Series A round

Supported by Enterprise Singapore and Amazon Web Services (AWS), the inaugural FFMH event will allow over 50 female founders to meet investors over four 15 minute sessions to discuss their tech business ideas, ask for advice, and/or simply pitch for investment.

The focus will be on tech startups at the seed and Series A stages.

The venture industry has long acknowledged that there is still a huge funding gap between male and female founders. A large part of a successful fundraise is in building relationships with investors over time.

FFMH aims to give female founders a good starting point, with the chance to cultivate relationships with the best of the best early on.,

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