Remember that opening scene where James Bond chased a terrorist across the rooftops of Istanbul in the Hollywood favourite Skyfall?

Flying-Cam SARAH, the miniature unmanned helicopter used for close-range aerial filming in the movie, created such a buzz in Hollywood after the film’s release that several aerial filming companies were granted FAA (Federal Aviation Administration in the US) exemptions for aerial filming and saw public interest skyrocketing in the years following.

Today, aerial footage captured by drones has become so commonplace that we barely notice it anymore. In wildlife documentaries, sports coverage, commercials, or blockbusters, drones are wherever you want them to be.

It’s easy to see how drones can be handy in filming high-speed aerial footage traditionally accomplished with CGI (computer-generated imagery). On top of their speed and manoeuvrability, drones can execute dangerous feats that cameramen simply cannot afford to attempt – hanging off from cliffs, dipping between racing cars, or even hovering above choppy currents.

In recent years, many of the best aerial cinematography shots employ unmanned aircraft. (Yes, I’m talking about that dipping shot in Jurassic World that mimicked the flight movement of a Pterosaur.)

Outside the film industry, drones are also making waves in the sports space. In particular, on-the-scene coverage of extreme sports such as alpine skiing or windsurfing requires the deployment of multiple drones to follow athletes throughout their racecourse.

Before the dawn of drones, television crews used to hike neighbouring mountains to take wide shots of the action. This meant that coverage of these exciting, high-action sports became static and boring when viewed on the 2D screen.

Also Read: Ecosystem Roundup: How SEA startups resisted challenges in 2020; AirAsia partners with MaGIC for drones-based delivery in MY

Back home, the Housing Development Board (HDB) and Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*Star) recently (just two weeks ago, actually) collaborated on a research project assessing the efficacy of using drones and robots to enhance construction site safety.

The Ministry of Transport is also currently in the process of drawing up safety regulations to designate drone-flying spaces for the enjoyment of local drone enthusiasts. In our ongoing fight against dengue, the National Environment Agency (NEA) has been deploying drones to inspect roof gutters in dengue red zones. In 2017, 300 drones took to the sky on Singapore’s birthday and put up a spectacular light display with just a click of a button.

And the list goes on.

Drones within the Red Dot

At BLOCK71 Singapore, Red Dot Drone (RDD), a drone software technology startup, is taking the technology further by combining the power of artificial intelligence with drones to deliver advanced services in data visualisation and creative filming.

This month, I spoke with Akira Hirakawa, a native Japanese drone expert and co-founder of RDD, to discuss his start-up’s upcoming plans for this revolutionary new space in a niche market.

What is the unique selling point of RDD? Why is AI important in this space?

As the name suggests, we are a drone company focusing on drone software technology such as automatic flight. In recent years, it is encouraging to see that drones are being increasingly used in a myriad of functions by the wider community. However, drones sold in the commercial market currently require operational knowledge, are not easy to control, and are dependent on manual flight.

At RDD, we have been developing drone software that bypasses the aforementioned problems. Using the power of software, AI, and ML, the resulting software technology is easier and safer to use. With our proprietary technology, it is our dream that everyone would be able to operate a drone effortlessly in the near future.

Are there any limitations of drone technology we may not know of?

Drones that are used to film and tag people autonomously exist in the market. However, we think that one of the most challenging components of autonomous drones is its creative movement.

For example, in sports and entertainment industries, the basic expectations for video filming is no longer simply the function of taking videos, but instead, filming techniques are expected to be creative and artistic so that the audience can enjoy an immersive experience.

While humans still have a slight edge in this field, this is an area we would like to disrupt using AI and ML in the long run.

With the upcoming adoption of 5G technology, what changes can we expect in the drone space? How will RDD adapt to ride the 5G wave?

An exciting area that we are working on is drone remote control technology over 5G. Usually, a drone pilot must be onsite physically with a controller that utilises radio frequency to control the drone.

Because of this physical limitation of the equipment, a drone can only fly within a few kilometres from the position of its drone pilot. Drone remote control over 5G will overcome this physical limitation.

Furthermore, with the entrance of 5G technology, drones can be easily used to perform many other functions, such as delivery or remote surveillance. In future, there could be drones constantly flying in the sky and accomplishing their tasks, monitored and supported remotely by various drone operation centres.

Also Read: EPS, Schulte Group back F-drones that develops autonomous drones capable of delivering 100kg payloads over 100km

This way, we can save both manpower and time, and also reduce human exposure to potentially hazardous elements.

Currently, our RDD technology is capable of drone remote control over 4G/5G connectivity, enabling remote control of commercial drones at different locations in Singapore. In this video, we control a drone in Japan from our Singapore office over Zoom using 4G network.

Since the end of 2020, we have been generously supported by the Singtel 5G Lab to utilise their 5G environment for further R&D and testing. We are ready and excited to incorporate 5G capabilities into our future drone operations.

What are some crucial industries around the world that will benefit from AI drone technology?

There are many industries in that drones could be deployed for better results. Off the top of my head, I would say that surveying, monitoring, inspection, delivery, agriculture, sports/entertainment, and public safety are some of the key areas in that drones can be utilised to make a positive change.

Although the regulations and expectations in each industry will be diverse, we believe these industries will benefit from RDD’s AI drone technology.

What do you envision to be the future of drone AI?

We believe that drones will become a commonplace tool and be used to serve different needs across all age groups in our society.

Even for our primary use case, we believe that the future of aerial filming will utilise multiple drones flying autonomously at the same time to capture creative shots from multiple angles. We call this Flying Filming Studio, and we will continue to work on our drone AI technology to realise this dream.

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Skymind Holdings, an international firm dedicated to the development of Artificial Intelligence (AI), has appointed Yasmin Mahmood as its Chairperson.

Yasmin was previously the CEO of Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC), the national arm of the Malaysian government driving the development of the country’s digital economy. She stepped down as the CEO after helming MDEC for more than four years.

Also Read: MDEC chief Yasmin Mahmood steps down; to join a tech venture in Jakarta

Before that, she took on management roles at global tech companies, including Dell and HP and was the Managing Director of Microsoft Malaysia.

With a presence in 17 countries, including Germany, Japan and the United Kingdom, Skymind develops innovative AI technologies that it claims are deployed in Fortune 500 companies including Nvidia, IBM, Huawei and NASA.

Last year, its venture arm, London-based Skymind Global Ventures, launched a US$800 million fund to support promising new AI companies and academic research globally.

As part of plans to expand Skymind’s footprint across Southeast Asia, the company expanded into Malaysia in October 2019, with the country serving as the group’s regional AI hub.

“We are pleased to welcome Datuk Yasmin, a well-respected and internationally recognised leader in the IT industry, to Skymind. Her extensive experience, knowledge and insights will help guide the vision and strategic opportunities of Skymind as we march ahead with our scale and growth plans,” said Shawn Tan, Global CEO of Skymind.

Also Read: Ethics and Artificial Intelligence: Is the technology only as good as the human behind it?

“For the last year, when she served as our Advisor, we saw how her leadership and passion has empowered Skymind to strengthen partnerships, develop strategic alliances, and expand our presence here in Malaysia as well as regionally and globally,” he added.

“I am passionate about AI and how it can revolutionise and reimagine anything and everything.  With the company’s track record of AI innovations and a focused growth strategy, this is an exciting time to work with Shawn and his team,” noted Yasmin.

“Skymind is in a unique position to catalyse an innovation ecosystem, thereby creating high-income and high-value jobs in Malaysia to serve the global markets,” she further opined.

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Indonesian e-commerce honcho Bukalapak has raised US$234 million in a fresh funding round led by Microsoft, Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC, and local media giant Emtek, reports Reuters.

Other investors joining the mega-round include SC Ventures (the investment arm of Standard Chartered) and Korean web portal Naver.

The report stated, citing sources, Bukalapak is planning to list in Indonesia and has engaged Bank Mandiri’s securities arm Mandiri Sekuritas to assist in the process.

Should the local listing materialise, the e-commerce giant will then look to merge with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) in the United States.

The latest funding round comes six months after reports stated Bukalapak was raising a US$100 million funding round, which at the time had already included Microsoft, GIC and Emtek.

Launched in 2010, Bukalapak, which was last valued at US$2.5 billion in 2019, claims it has over 100 million users on its platform.

The company recently partnered with Standard Chartered to launch “innovative offerings” as part of efforts to advance the latter’s on digital banking.

Also Read: [Updated] Standard Chartered partners with Bukalapak to launch digital banking solutions

The 9-figure funding round comes amid increased interest in the Southeast Asian tech sector with multiple tech startups seeking public listings.

Yesterday, regional super-app Grab announced it was merging with SPAC Altimeter Growth Corp in what will be the world’s largest SPAC deal.

Its e-commerce rival Tokopedia is in talks with ride-hailing giant gojek in a merger that would see the US$18 billion combined entity pursue a dual listing on the Indonesia and US exchanges.

Meanwhile, Indonesian travel giant Traveloka is in discussions with Peter Thiel-backed SPAC Bridgetown Holdings, in a deal potentially worth US$5 billion.

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Image Credit: Bukalapak

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Docosan, a Vietnam-based health-tech startup, announced today that it has raised over US$1 million in a round led by Taiwanese VC firm AppWorks.

Singaporean VC firm Huat Ventures and biotech entrepreneur David Ma also participated in the round.

The development was first reported by TechInAsia.

While Docosan has not disclosed its plans with the fresh capital, it said it will add telehealth and pharmacy services to its platform.

Launched just last year, Docosan’s goal is to improve access to quality healthcare for people in Vietnam. The app enables patients to compare healthcare providers, book appointments, chat with primary care assistants, and manage health data for free.

Docosan uses internationally-recognised protocols such as HIPAA (the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability) and DICOM (Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine) to ensure health records are portable across many different systems.

The company claims to have helped 50,000 patients in Vietnam book appointments with physicians across 35 specialties within less than a year of operations.

Also Read: Meet the 20 startups selected for Taiwanese accelerator AppWorks virtual showcase

“Many clinics are frustrated after spending large amounts on social media marketing because these networks’ vast, opaque user bases are difficult to harness to reach new patients,” said Beth Ann Lopez, co-founder of Docosan.

“Docosan’s proprietary booking software provides doctors an easier way to manage bookings compared to the crowded waiting rooms, which people are increasingly wary of amid the pandemic,” she added.

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, digital healthcare services have seen a boom as more people are growing increasingly cautious of visiting crowded spaces.

Due to this, many consumers in Southeast Asia are now seeing health-tech solutions as a lifestyle staple.

Observing this trend, many leading companies such as Grab, AIA and gojek have all integrated healthcare content into their offerings.

According to a study by Solidiance, total healthcare spending in ASEAN is estimated to reach US$740 billion by 2025, up from US$420 billion in 2017.

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Image Credit:  National Cancer Institute

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Fave, a Malaysia-based fintech platform providing QR payments and loyalty cashback to restaurant and retailers, has been acquired by Indian merchant commerce giant Pine Labs in a deal valued at over US$45 million.

As per a joint statement, the acquisition will help the two companies accelerate their growth in Asia and unlock consumer opportunities across retail, F&B, fashion and FMCG markets.

Fave also noted that joining forces with Pine Labs will reinforce its market position in Southeast Asia.

As per the terms in the agreement, Fave’s founders will have their roles expanded to lead the overall consumer platform for the group across Asia. The company will also be hiring over 100 new employees in Southeast Asia and India to “accelerate cashless payments and smart savings across the region.”

The acquisition comes about a year after Fave announced a “strategic partnership and investment” by Pine Labs which saw the fintech platform become interoperable and integrated with the latter’s terminals.

Launched in 2016, Fave currently operates in 35 cities across Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. The company claims it has enabled six million consumers to save over US$400 million across 40,000 retailers.

Fave will launch its services in India as part of the deal.

Also Read: From startup to scale-up: How fintech startups can get on the front foot

“Consumers have tremendous choices in their payment types. They want to be sure that they save on every transaction. Fave helps consumers apply their best rewards, coupons, gift cards and cashbacks on all transactions in a seamless manner. Joel and the Fave team have built a loyal consumer base with their smooth checkout experience,” said B. Amrish Rau, CEO of Pine Labs.

“Pine Labs has been a great partner and investor for us, and it only made sense for us to join our synergies together and work towards our shared vision of building a truly global consumer and merchant platform,” said Joel Neoh, Co-founder and CEO of Fave.

“India has the digital advantage with young demography, growing aspirational middle class with rising disposable income and increasing digital savviness. We are confident that the APAC e-payments landscape will continue to achieve exponential growth in the coming decade,” Neoh added.

According to Pine Labs, the introduction of Fave into its offerings comes at an opportune moment, with mobile payments growing to 2.7 billion transactions in March 2021. The company also recorded a significant growth of 171 per cent in mobile payment transactions over the last two quarters.

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Image Credit: Fave

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Singapore-based accelerator-cum-startup fund, Accelerating Asia (AA), has unveiled 11 startups selected for its fourth cohort.

The programme runs for 100 days and includes intensive weeks of masterclass modules, investor meetings and pitch coaching sessions.

Besides, AA also provides selected startups with a seed capital of US$148,000 (S$200,000).

To support startups in their journey, AA has also rounded up individuals such as Pieter Kemps, Principal of Sequoia Capital; Kuo-Yi Lim, co-founder of Monk’s Hill Ventures; and Jeffrey Paine, Managing Partner of Golden Gate Ventures to join its investor network.

So far, AA’s portfolio companies have raised over US$22 million in funding since joining the programme.

Also Read: Accelerating Asia plans to launch $50M fund in Q1 2021

“We selected cohort-4 from 500 startups from 30 countries, a record number of applications for us that shows the demand for a Singapore-based accelerator with an international footprint. With just two per cent of startups selected, the chosen 11 will be part of our largest cohort and are eligible to receive up to S$200,000 in investment from our VC fund,” said co-founder Amra Naidoo.

Here are the eleven startups in the programme:

Amar Lab (Bangladesh)

An end-to-end diagnostics test service that connects local and international diagnostic labs to clients.

Casa Mia (Singapore)

A co-living operator offering private bedrooms in shared homes.

DoctorKoi (Bangladesh)

A prescription management software that helps doctors generate prescriptions with a few clicks.

Drive lah (Singapore)

A mobility company that offers flexible and affordable access to cars nearby without the hassle of ownership.

HandyMama (Bangladesh)

Connects customers with trustworthy and verified cleaning and handyman services.

Independents (Singapore)

An AI-powered marketplace that matches individuals to the exact requirements of marketing projects.

KopiDate (Singapore)

A social platform that curates conversation-centred dating experiences for single millennials.

Mobiliti (Pakistan)

Provides state-of-the-art bionic lower limb prosthetics at affordable prices.

SWAP (Bangladesh)

A cross-category exchange platform for users to sell or swap their old phone, laptop, car, motorcycle and furniture in just 24 hours.

TransTRACK.ID (Indonesia)

A fleet telematics system integrator that provides data collection of transport.

Waitrr (Singapore)

A platform for restaurants that lets guests order and pay in a few seconds.

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Southeast Asian tech giant today confirmed its plans to go public in the US in partnership with Altimeter Growth, a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC).

The Singapore-headquartered Grab expects it to be the largest-ever US equity offering by a Southeast Asian company.

The combined entity expects its securities will be traded on NASDAQ under the symbol GRAB in the “coming months.”

The proposed transactions value Grab at an initial pro-forma equity value of approximately US$39.6 billion at a PIPE size of more than US$4 billion.

It will provide the company with approximately US$4.5 billion in cash proceeds.

Grab group CEO and co-founder Anthony Tan dubbed the move as “even more critical” as the region recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It was very challenging for us too, but it taught us immensely about the resiliency of our business. Our diversified super app strategy helped our driver-partners pivot to deliveries and enabled us to deliver growth while improving profitability. As we become a publicly-traded company, we’ll work even harder to create economic empowerment for our communities, because when Southeast Asia succeeds, Grab succeeds,” he said.

Also Read: Ex-Traveloka, Grab execs’ one-year-old online fresh grocery startup Segari raises seed funding led by Beenext

“We’ve always believed in long-term partnerships to drive impact at scale. We work closely with governments to support their national agendas and have partnered with some of the world’s best blue-chip companies. Altimeter is investing in a way that demonstrates our aligned values, with a three-year lock-up on their sponsor promote shares and unprecedented contribution of shares to our new GrabForGood endowment fund,” he added.

“They’re joining our journey for the long-run, together with an incredible day one cap table of renowned institutional investors and sovereign wealth funds. This is testament to the global investment community’s belief in the long-term value proposition of Grab’s super app strategy and the exciting growth potential of Southeast Asia,” Tan continued.

Within the past months, leading Southeast Asian tech companies such as Grab and Traveloka have reportedly been preparing for their public listing in the US through SPAC.

SPAC itself has been predicted to become a popular, alternative way for tech companies to go public in 2021.

Grab said that its decision to go public was driven by “strong” financial performance in 2020, which it managed to achieve despite the pandemic.

Grab posted GMV of approximately US$12.5 billion in 2020, which it claimed to be surpassing pre-pandemic levels and more than doubling from 2018.

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Image Credit: Grab

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We recently celebrated World Health Day on 7 April. It’s an opportunity to focus attention on some of the remarkable efforts of governments in our region to communicate with their citizens using platforms like Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp. Like many other things during the pandemic, public health campaigns had to move online to reach people at scale with crucial updates.

Digital health promotion is by no means new. But for many governments in the Asia Pacific, it was the first time they were using the Facebook family of apps as a marketing channel for public health promotion at scale. With mounting pressure on healthcare systems, they had to react quickly to contain infection rates on the ground while communicating credible information to citizens as fast as possible.

We saw a number of governments in the region rapidly test and learn different approaches to digital health promotion. From launching bots for Messenger to leveraging free advertising credits to drive people to health information from trusted sources — they led the charge on innovative ways of harnessing technology to fight the pandemic.

Responding to a global crisis

Early in the pandemic, messaging emerged as a key public engagement channel. The Singapore government was among the first to develop an official Gov.sg WhatsApp channel which now has over 1.2 million opt-in users. It continues to provide up-to-date information on the spread of COVID-19 in the country, along with relevant details on infection control measures.

Our teams also worked with the Philippines Department of Health to launch a Messenger bot to share updates on COVID-19. Taiwan’s Center for Disease Control, which has been lauded for its pandemic response, also launched a COVID-19 bot on Messenger — both to serve as a local channel and an international channel sharing the latest updates with Taiwanese diaspora around the world.

Also read: KiWi New Energy: Making green energy available to all

All of this happened in partnership with health experts, third-party developers, creative agencies, as well as government and public advocacy teams. In fact, even our internal creative teams joined meetings with departments of health to help apply creative best practices to health updates. Some of this early work led out of Asia Pacific and has now turned into a global framework for pandemic response.

Moving forward with the power of innovation

This year, providing effective and accurate vaccine communications is top of mind for public health authorities. As we transition into the vaccine confidence and access phase of the pandemic response, governments continue to leverage digital platforms to get the word out about COVID-19 vaccinations.

As vaccine access and eligibility is different across the region, we are also seeing governments develop more customised messaging experiences. Earlier this year, the Ministry of Health in Indonesia reached out to discuss building a WhatsApp chatbot to support their vaccine rollout to health workers. The world’s first WhatsApp vaccine chatbot was built in nine days. Health workers were able to use this two-way messaging chatbot to select location, date, time, and get people to register for vaccinations. Within the first five days, 500,000 healthcare workers had accessed the bot.

Similarly, the Indian government built the world’s largest WhatsApp chatbot last year with the goal of sharing authentic news, expert information and official updates. They also established MyGov Corona Hub. They are now updating the chatbot to support their massive vaccine rollout program by incorporating vaccine-specific FAQs and will launch more features soon.

Also read: Malaysian tech companies making waves in Indonesia, shine on a global stage

As we collaborated on these campaigns, we also saw the value of personalised advertising in public health promotion strategies. Studies have shown that the effectiveness of the advertisements may be greatly improved by targeting messages based on sociodemographic characteristics.

For example, as schools and colleges reopened in Pakistan, its Ministry of Health wanted to inform parents, teachers, and students about the precautionary measures needed to enable a safe environment for studying.

The MoH created a short animated video showcasing steps to stay safe in school. They utilised a combination of placements, including Facebook and Instagram Feed and Stories amongst others, to maximise opportunities for visibility.

The simple animations, catchy jingle, and easy to understand language used in the video helped keep the broad nationwide audience engaged. Key messages about washing hands and steering clear of touching the eyes and mouth were delivered within the first few seconds. Captions made it easy to grasp the messages even with sound off.

The campaign helped reach over 13 million people and led to increased awareness of health safety measures during COVID-19.

The role of startups in plugging technical gaps

There are many such examples from the region. I’m truly impressed by how Asian governments have adapted their technological capabilities and innovated relatively quickly to reach their citizens at scale. In the process, we have all learned the power of collaboration. I’m inspired by the broad ecosystem that has sprung up to tackle technical gaps and health service needs, especially for underserved communities. Small technology startups and developer businesses have moved fast to meet public needs, iterating as they go, in partnership with public health officials.

Also read: HKSTP invites global tech ventures to the Global Matching 2021

I want to share the story of Amio, a free Messenger chatbot created by three Kiwi doctors to address questions and bust myths about COVID-19 for communities in New Zealand and Australia. In the first month, over 250,000 messages were exchanged. Another example is a startup called Reach52, which focused on providing affordable healthcare to underserved communities. They moved quickly to build a COVID-19 Information and Symptom Checker on the Messenger platform to help curb misinformation. In the first week alone, their solution reached over 6,500 people from rural communities across the Philippines and Cambodia.

It is important to reflect on these stories as they help us learn more about the kind of public health messages that work well, where we can improve, and how we can tackle future public health crises together.

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Tribe, a blockchain accelerator backed by the government of Singapore, has received a strategic investment from Korea Investment Partners (KIP) and Mandiri Investment Management.

Greg Kidd, an early investor in Twitter, Coinbase and Square, besides Hong Kong-based Stellar Partners, also co-invested.

This marks KIP’s first direct investment into Singapore.

Tribe will use the funds to grow its accelerator and academy programmes into newer markets, including the US, Korea, Indonesia and Hong Kong.

Additionally, Tribe has also announced a partnership with American drug giant Pfizer to provide startups with support like technical expertise, resources and access to networks. Its other notable partners include HSBC, Infineon Technologies, Citibank and Ubisoft.

Founded in 2018, Tribe works closely with global corporations, government agencies, blockchain companies and late-stage startups to build a community that promotes blockchain collaborations and innovations.

Its goal is “to generate greater public awareness of the benefits and relevance in the everyday use of distributed ledger technology through the usage of decentralised applications (dApps) or backend digital solutions”.

Also Read: In brief: Singapore’s blockchain accelerator Tribe goes virtual for batch 3

“We are supporting a range of cutting-edge blockchain startups from around the world, with a total valuation of over US$1 billion, that are solving global problems from food security, education efforts to medicine deliveries,” said Tribe CEO, Yi Ming Ng.

“The pandemic has placed a spotlight on the pharmaceutical and healthcare industry, and in the process speeded up its digital transformation,” added Bei Goh, Digital Client Partner Lead Emerging Markets Asia, Pfizer, added.

“There is huge potential for blockchain in the pharmaceutical sector, from the tracking and authenticating of vaccines and medicines to making supply chains more efficient. Being a part of the Tribe ecosystem gives us access to promising blockchain and other deep tech startups as well as insights into the latest trends across the industry,” he shared.

Tribe also said that its participating startups have raised US$70 million since joining the programme. Some of its acceleratees are Accredify, AID:Tech, TADA and xfers.

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Image Credit: Tribe

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With recent investments from Google, Facebook, and Microsoft making headlines, Indonesia’s tech scene has exploded onto the world stage in 2020. Meanwhile, the country’s digital economy is taking off with 40 million new internet users last year alone, leading many — including us — to predict that international attraction to Southeast Asia’s largest economy is only just getting started.

Whether or not the rumours of an US$18B Gojek and Tokopedia merger become reality, we believe 2021 is the year that more US investors “discover” what is happening in Southeast Asia’s digital economy — and particularly in Indonesia.

Following in the footsteps of SEA Group — currently the only Southeast Asian tech company listed on a US exchange — we predict at least two to three Indonesian tech companies will seek to go public in the US within the next 12 months, including the first dual-listing IPOs between the US and Indonesia.

That “something big” is underway in Indonesia’s tech ecosystem is not surprising, but it is a remarkably different reality than only ten years ago.

One entrepreneur who has been there every step of Indonesia’s tech transformation is Aldi Haryopratomo, who was among the first Endeavor entrepreneurs in Indonesia.

Haryopratomo built his first startup Mapan in 2009. In 2017, Mapan was acquired by Gojek, where he became the CEO of GoPay, and built Indonesia’s leading fintech unicorn.

Aldi left GoPay earlier this year, and is now on sabbatical mentoring a new breed of entrepreneurs. We had a chance to talk to him about his experiences.

“Unlike today, venture capital was non-existent in Indonesia in 2009,” says Haryopratomo, founder and CEO of GoPay, and a serial entrepreneur in Indonesia. “Trying to get advice on how to build a startup was impossible.” It makes sense — only seven per cent of the population in Indonesia was online in 2009, compared to the 70 per cent internet penetration today. This 10 times growth has opened up a world of possibilities for hopeful entrepreneurs and technology investors alike.

Also Read: GOPAY becomes payment option in Google Play in Indonesia, reaching underserved market

Entrepreneur in the making

Despite Indonesia’s nascent entrepreneurship ecosystem at the time, Haryopratomo’s is a success story. His first venture, Mapan, focused on providing lower-income communities better access to valuable products and services through technology and the power of networks.

We first met Haryopratomo in 2009, the same year he founded Mapan when he cold-emailed Endeavor’s expansion team to inquire about opening an office in Indonesia — looking for support.

As a graduate student at Harvard, he had read a case study about Endeavor’s success in Latin America, where entrepreneurs such as Wences Casares, Marcos Galperin, and others had spurred the growth of an entrepreneurial ecosystem beginning to rival that of Silicon Valley.

“My curiosity spiked,” said Haryopratomo. “I was jealous of the startup support system my fellow founders had in San Francisco. I assumed that most founders in Nigeria, Argentina, or Brazil faced a similar problem.”

Haryopratomo graduated with a degree in computer engineering in 2004 from Purdue University, and worked two years as an IT security consultant for Ernst & Young in San Francisco before joining the star micro-finance organisation, Kiva. He left Kiva to work at BCG where he had an opportunity to create the initial design for a mobile banking system in Pakistan, ultimately realising the vast commercial potential of enabling a network of rural shopkeepers with the ability to accept mobile payments.

In late 2008, inspired by this revelation, Haryopratomo created the pilot project that would ultimately become Mapan. Mapan was founded on the belief that in any village or community, there is a natural community leader, who is best positioned to provide goods and services for his or her neighbours.

The company started by offering prepaid cell phone minutes and bill payment services. Since then, Mapan’s main product line has evolved to be Arisan Mapan (mapan means financially self-sufficient in Bahasa Indonesia), which utilises the traditional rotation-based savings and loan model at the village level to offer affordable goods — ranging from clothing to refrigerators — to its members. Mapan has helped over three million families finance goods using the arisan model.

Also Read: Morning News Roundup: Fulldive partners gojek’s digital payment arm GoPay, launching its browser in Indonesia

When asked about his greatest role models over the years, Haryopratomo mentioned his father, who built roads and bridges all through Indonesia and often took his children to work with him. This exposure motivated Haryopratomo to pursue building companies that gave access to basic services to those who need them the most.

As Mapan scaled, Haryopratomo looked for mentors in the ecosystem who could give him advice. He continued to email Endeavor, asking when an office in Indonesia might open. “I would call every month or so just to check-in,” Haryopratomo said.

In 2012, to his excitement, Endeavor Indonesia launched and began a proactive search for potential Endeavor Entrepreneurs. Haryopratomo immediately put his name in the ring and became the first Indonesian entrepreneur to go through Endeavor’s selection process.

“I stumbled through the local selection panel,” he recounted. “The panellists were people who I had only seen in magazines. They grilled me for hours about my revenue, team, and growth.”

But he passed unanimously and soon after boarded a plane to Dubai for an International Selection Panel (ISP), the final step in Endeavor’s selection process. The ISP was equally as challenging — and exhilarating. Stakes were high since, if selected, he would become Indonesia’s first Endeavor Entrepreneur.

“The grilling continued in Dubai. Panellists paired together to assault me with questions and shower me with wisdom. I walked out of the three sessions exhausted,” he said. But, when it came time for the decision, Haryopratomo was ultimately rejected. He was crushed.

The following year, Sati Rasuanto, the managing director of Endeavor Indonesia, invited him to go through the process again. This time, it was Rasuanto’s turn to be persistent. Despite initial hesitation, he agreed to attend another ISP, and this time he was selected.

A chance endeavour

Once in the Endeavor network, Haryopratomo had access to the mentorship and guidance he had only dreamed of years prior. One of his early mentors was Husodo, the founding Chairman of Endeavor Indonesia, and a well-respected entrepreneur in the country.

Husodo helped Haryopratomo navigate doing business in Jakarta, and became an early investor in Mapan. Another important mentor for Haryopratomo was the Argentinian serial entrepreneur Wences Casares, who was part of his first selection panel.

“I made a point to meet Wences every time I travelled to California,” said Haryopratomo. “I sought his counsel on every career-changing moment I had.”

Also Read: Why frictionless payments is the key to merchant success in the modern world

In addition to his cherished mentors, Haryopratomo forged strong relationships with Endeavor’s staff. Over the years, he felt immensely supported by Allen Taylor who oversaw Endeavor Catalyst, Endeavor’s investment fund. He recalls Taylor guiding him through the “obscure terms and pitfalls he had seen many entrepreneurs face.” In 2014, Endeavor Catalyst joined Mapan’s Series B financing round alongside Omidyar Network.

Two years later, Mapan, along with two other Indonesian fintech companies, was acquired by gojek, an Indonesian ride hailing unicorn. gojek was on its way to becoming a super app and wanted to build a payments and financial services arm. As part of the acquisition, Haryopratomo became CEO of GoPay.

“When we started, GoPay was mainly known as a payment method for gojek; there were only a few thousand transactions happening outside of Gojek each day. We launched our QR payments offline, and within less than a year, we were processing over a million transactions per day,” Haryopratomo shared.

Under Haryopratomo’s leadership, GoPay continued to grow exponentially. In 2019, GoPay was reported to have processed US$6.3 billion dollars of transactions and expanded from a purely domestic business to establishing a regional presence.

GoPay’s rise helped attract strategic investments from global tech companies into gojek including Paypal, Facebook, Google, and Tencent.

“I feel privileged to have had a team that, in such a short time, was able to change how millions of people accessed payments and financial services. We learned so many lessons along the way, and I wanted to find ways to share them with other entrepreneurs in the region,” Haryopratomo recalled.

He embodied the Endeavor spirit of “paying it forward” and began mentoring entrepreneurs himself, devoting much of his time to cultivating the ecosystem he didn’t have as an aspiring entrepreneur. For years, Haryopratomo has served as a mentor to Gibran Huzaifah, founder of eFishery, where he has recently been appointed to the board.

Haryopratomo recounts, “When it was about fish, Gibran was the teacher, and I was the student. Learning about fish, my favourite protein, was a reprieve from the world of fintech.” Aldi further noted, “Often, I learned more from mentoring other entrepreneurs than when I was a mentee. Gibran was one such example.”

After informally advising the company for six years, he also formally joined the board of HaloDoc, a fast-growing health technology company in Indonesia. Kitabisa, Indonesia’s largest donations app, also counts him as one of its board members.

As internet penetration grows, and capital and geography continue to decouple, the once nearly insurmountable barriers to entrepreneurship in places like Indonesia are beginning to come down.

Also Read: After Grab, gojek joins LinkAja’s US$100M+ Series B financing round

It has been over a decade since Haryopratomo first learned of Endeavor as a graduate student and aspiring entrepreneur in Indonesia. In many ways, his journey as an entrepreneur parallels that of the Indonesia ecosystem itself. What began as an aspiring entrepreneur in a fledgling entrepreneurial ecosystem, became an entrepreneur to aspire to in a thriving one. And we think Indonesia is a market to watch.

Organisations such as Endeavor are helping to establish the support systems globally that he craved back in 2009. Today, Haryopratomo encourages every entrepreneur he meets to join Endeavor — “if only for the friendships you will make along the journey,” he says.

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