Recently, Discovery/Shift announced the launch of DSLaunchpad AI, which is dubbed Indonesia’s first and biggest AI startup incubator.

The organisation has opened registration for the six-week programme, which seeks AI startups with less than US$500,000 in funding and fewer than 10 employees, at least one Indonesian citizen in its team, and working on ideas using technologies such as Machine Learning, Deep Learning, Robotics, Computer Vision, or Generative AI.

These startups will have the opportunity to gain mentorship from notable names in the Indonesian tech startup ecosystem, including On Lee (CEO at GDP Labs), Risman Adnan (Digital Tech Director at Kalbe), Andrias Ekoyuono (Chief of AI at kumparan), and Hokiman Kurniawan (CEO at Meeting.ai).

According to Discovery/Shift Managing Partner Rama Mamuaya, in a call with e27, the first advantage of the programme is the mentors involved in it.

“We are extremely picky with our mentors. We want someone who has achieved something, not just someone who is good with storytelling and public speaking despite the importance of these skills. We try to implement a very high standard,” he says.

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Discovery/Shift, which is a boutique research, consultancy, and advisory firm that started out in 2008 as tech media DailySocial, has invested in one startup and intends to use the programme to help it search for more.

“We see a lot of opportunities in early-stage startups. Very similar to our investment thesis, we also aim to be industry-agnostic. We see that the demand for AI-enablement is cross-sectoral in nature,” Mamuaya says.

In the near future, Discovery/Shift plans to continue working with organisations that are relevant to the growth of AI, from venture capital firms and cloud hosts to chipset manufacturers.

“We strongly believe that AI implementation in the next year will not be anything ‘special’; everyone will be using it. Just like the mobile app when it was first introduced.”

Corporations lead the AI revolution

When asked about significant trends in the AI segment today, Mamuaya begins by pointing out that unlike previous trends in the tech industry, such as Web3, corporations are leading the movement towards AI adoption.

In Indonesia, the banking industry is at the forefront of AI adoption, as reflected in DiscoveryShift’s experience with its clients. The media and entertainment industries followed suit.

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“In the past, we may have seen the banking industry discussing incorporating blockchain and coins into their system, but we did not see that happening,” he explains.

“What makes AI really stand out is actually corporations’ response to it. In fact, in the banking industry, they have implemented AI since the 1990s for credit scoring, ATM, load balancing their tech stack … So, for them, it’s not a new concept.”

Another notable trend, which Mamuaya believed might sound surprising, is that “no one seems to be investing in AI.”

“Investments in AI companies remain very small because the market continues using products by companies such as OpenAI and Anthropic. The smaller, more applicate, app-level companies do not receive that much amount of money,” he elaborates.

“We did some research and learned that the valuation has not come down that much because these smaller companies are still building on top of the existing LLMs provided by the larger companies, including in Indonesia, even though there are parties that are working LLMs in local and regional languages.”

Indonesia and AI

What are the hurdles that businesses in Indonesia face in terms of AI adoption? According to Mamuaya, some corporations do not understand their own business processes, which prevents them from knowing how to properly implement AI in the right places.

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“We often tell them, ‘Sir, you can’t use AI in this business process because your process goes like this,’ and their reaction would be, ‘Oh, so that’s how our business process works!’” Mamuaya says.

“As for companies who already understand AI, their middle-level managements are more detailed with the implementation and in identifying where can automate or augment or eliminate.”

Is there any talent issue in Indonesia? According to Mamuaya, it depends on the focus and skill level.

“If you need data scientists or any level that requires a PhD, of course, [there is an issue]. But like many large markets outside of the US, China, and Europe, we are not developing hardcore, paradigm-shifting core technology,” Mamuaya closes.

“We are only doing this on the applicative level, so we are not facing a problem with talents … even though there is a good argumentation for organisations and even the government to have a sovereign AI.”

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Image Credit: Discovery/Shift

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