University of Indonesia and Grab have joined forces to support the university’s development program for startups

Top Indonesian public university the University of Indonesia (UI) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) through its Business Unit Management and Development Directorate for the University of Indonesia (DPPU UI) with Grab. Through its Grab Ventures Velocity (GVV) program, Grab will be a strategic partner to the university’s development programme that seeks to nurture startups focussed in the technology, medical, and social fields.

The MoU was signed by UI Rector Prof. Dr. Ir. Muhammad Anis, M.Met and President of Grab Indonesia Ridzki Kramadibrata, on Thursday, May 15, at the Ruang Apung UI Kampus Depok. The signing was witnessed by the Deputy Rector of UI for HR and Cooperation Prof. Dr. Ir. Dedi Priadi, DEA; Executive Director of Grab Indonesia Ongki Kurniawan; and PPU UI Director Dr. drg. Nia Ayu Ismaniati Noerhadi, MDSc., Sp.Ort(K).

UI will proceed to provide mentorship for startups that were born from UI’s academic community incubation in UI Works Accelerator Program, partnering with Code Margonda as the organizer. The program will assist all UI’s academic community as well as the young generation outside of the UI campus who have startups that already have a prototype or a beta version of its product.

There will be three phases in the program, starting with Pre-Accelerator, continued with Accelerator, and closed with Demo Day.

In the Pre-Accelerator phase, candidates will join a selection process to find the ideal startups for the program followed by Accelerator phase, where the selected startups will join an intensive program for around four months to develop their business at a commercial level. The final phase will be the Demo Day, where the selected startups will meet with investors who are ready to mentor and grow their business.

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Grab Ventures Velocity (GVV) will participate in the Second Phase as a mentor or guest speaker and will conduct an evaluation for selected startups who will then pass to the final phase and get the chance to be mentored further in the GVV program.

Grab and UI’s partnership will also include Engineering Talent Future Leader program, in which last year’s UI students from technical majors can join the selection program for an internship opportunity at Grab’s Indonesia or Singapore office. The registration starts from May 16, 2019.

“This partnership with Universitas Indonesia is in line with Grab’s commitment to Indonesia that is summarised in the ‘Grab 4 Indonesia’ Masterplan 2020 in which we fully support job creation as well as increase the capacity of local talents in information technology, technopreneurship, and technology innovation. Our Grab Ventures program is in line with the mission of the Ministry of Communications and Information as well as the Creative Economy Agency (BEKRAF) at finding and developing next-generation technology leaders in Southeast Asia, while also encouraging innovation and digitalisation,” said President of Grab Indonesia, Ridzki Kramadibrata.

Launched in July 2018, Grab Ventures is Grab’s venture building and venture investments arm. Through GVV, Grab Ventures offers access to its customer base, mentorship, and access to Grab’s technology assets for startups to test their services via Grab’s ecosystem.

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Grab said it will invest an additional IDR3 trillion (US$250 million) into Indonesia in the next three years through Grab Ventures’ Velocity scale-up programme.
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