Have you ever wanted to know what the startup ecosystem in Indonesia is like without actually travelling there? Or maybe you just want to come prepared and know who’s who? Being at e27, we have the advantage of helping a first-timer out; so here’s a brief snapshot of the top 27 innovators that have helped the Indonesian startup scene grow to where it is today:
Ridwan Kamil, Mayor of Bandung
Elected as Mayor of Bandung on June 23, 2013, Mochamad Ridwan Kamil is primarily known for shaping Bandung into a smart city. With a programme involving an online permit system and a municipal staff performance monitoring system, citizens can easily take part in keeping officials accountable. Because of Mayor Kamil’s efforts, Bandung has been selected as a finalist in the World Smart City Awards, an awarding event hosted in conjunction with the Smart City Expo and World Congress in Barcelona last November 17-19. The city is currently on the process of building Teknopolis, a satellite city where local and international tech companies will be based.
Triawan Munaf, Creative Economy Council (BEKRAF)
Triawan Munaf is the appointed Chairman of Badan Ekonomi Kreatif (BEKRAF) Indonesia, a government organisation tasked in developing Indonesia’s creative industry and was part of the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy. Established in early 2015, BEKRAF is dedicated to assist the President of Indonesia to set, coordinate, and synchronise policies in Creative Economy.
Sebastian Togelang, Kejora Group
Sebastian Togelang is one of the founding partners of Kejora Group and the managing director of Mountain Kejora Ventures. The Kejora Group is a tech startup accelerator, a company builder and a seed investor with over 25 investments in Asia. Sebastian also co-founded Ideabox, an early stage company incubator set up between Mountain Kejora Ventures and Indosat Ooredoo Group, focusing on technology companies in the emerging markets. Sebastian is also a co-founder and an investor in the following companies: Compare88 Group, Qareer Group, and 15 more companies.
Martin B. Hartono, GDP Venture
Heading GDP Venture as the CEO, Martin Hartono has built an ecosystem for Indonesia’s tech industry. With investments in Kaskus, Indonesia’s largest forum site, and Blibli, a high growth e-commerce platform, Martin isn’t stopping there. Under the umbrella of GDP Ventures, Merah Putih also serves as Indonesia’s first digital incubator, investing in Lintas.me, Infokost.net, Bolalob, Mindtalk, DailySocial.id, Kincir, with its latest venture in Opini.co.id. Aside from his commitments in GDP Venture, Martin also mentors at Founder Institute Jakarta.
Angelyn Ardiwinata Liem, GEPI
Being the youngest and first female Executive Director of Global Entrepreneurship Program Indonesia (GEPI), Angelyn Ardiwinata Liem is tasked to develop entrepreneurship in Indonesia through incubation, angel investment, and coding classes as part of Hack Reactor Core’s extended network. Previously she launched Student Globe, a highschool media program by Berita Satu, involving over 100 schools and 10,000 students across Indonesia. She obtained a master’s in Social Enterprise Administration from Columbia University and a bachelor’s in Education from Universitas Pelita Harapan (UPH).
Adrian Li, Convergence Ventures
A serial internet entrepreneur, Adrian Li founded Convergence Ventures in order to serve as a empowering platform for entrepreneurs to succeed. To become the founding and managing partner for Convergence Ventures, Adrian has been involved in co-founding and operating 6 internet ventures covering e-commerce, media, marketplace, and product-based businesses based in China and Indonesia all for the past 10 years. He also serves as a business mentor for Endeavor, Founder Institute, GEPI, Ideabox, Incyte and Sky Star Ventures. Adrian obtained his MBA from Stanford and completed his undergraduate degree from Cambridge University with a degree in Economics.
Budi Setiadharma, Astra International
Currently serving as President Director of Astra International, Indonesia’s largest automative distributor and producer, Budi Setiadharma has been one of the influential angel investors of Indonesia. To date, he has made three investments, namely Jurnal.id, Qlapa and KerjaDulu. Previously, Budi held other positions at Astra, including Vice President Director of the Company, President Director of PT Astra Honda Motor and General Manager of Honda Division of PT Astra International Tbk. He also served as a Commissioner of PT Jakarta Land, and is also currently a Commissioner of PT Hero Supermarket Tbk.
John Riady, Lippo Group
John Riady is a man of many professions – well known as the Executive Director of the Lippo Group, he also serves as a professor of Law at Indonesia’s leading private university, Universitas Pelita Harapan (UPH), editor at large of the Jakarta Globe, and Director of Berita Satu Media Holdings, a diversified Indonesian media conglomerate. He received his MBA from the Wharton School of Business and a Juris Doctor (JD) from Columbia University. Being an Indonesian lawyer, John is also a member of the of the NY Bar Association and serves on the Columbia University International Advisory Board.
Daniel Tumiwa, OLX Indonesia
As the current CEO of OLX Indonesia, Daniel Tumiwa possesses a very strong understanding in both consumer insights, sociology and digital technology in his line of work. Daniel is known for also building and leading several successful ventures such as MTV Asia Indonesia, Universal Music, PT Djarum, Multiply, Yahoo, CNBC, Air Asia and Garuda Indonesia. Daniel is also highly credited for initiating, setting up and launching Indonesia’s E-Commerce Association (idEA), helping to elevate the e-commerce industry of Indonesia.
Nadiem Makarim, Go-Jek
Managing one of the largest companies in the motorcycle taxi (ojek) industry, Nadiem Makarim possesses the necessary drive and experience to be the CEO of Go-Jek. Backed by Sequoia Capital India and Yuri Milner’s DST Global, Go-Jek has already registered 11 million downloads since it launched in January 2015. Previously, Nadiem was also the chief innovation officer of Kartuku, a local payments firm and was the managing director of Zalora Indonesia. He received his MBA from Harvard in 2009, and worked in McKinsey for nearly three years.
Willson Cuaca, East Ventures
As the co-founder and managing partner of East Ventures, Willson Cuaca has become an early stage investor in Indonesia and Singapore’s startup industry. With already over 80 or more investments in early stage startups, East Ventures has already been a prominent venture capital firm for Southeast Asian startups. Aside from East Ventures, Willson also is the CEO of Apps Foundry, a mobile company that builds applications from both consumers and enterprises.
Cynthia Tenggara, BerryKitchen
Cynthia Tenggara started out her career as an employee at various companies, including Groupon Indonesia. She started out her entrepreneurship journey in 2012 to solve the challenge of helping professionals find convenient, healthy lunches that still tastes good. Berrykitchen raised a US$1.25 million Series A from Sovereign’s Capital and East Ventures. She graduated from Pelita Harapan University in 2007.
Shinta W. Dhanuwardoyo, bubu.com and Nusantara Ventures
As the founder of Bubu.com in 1996, Shinta Dhanuwardoyo took control of one of the first internet companies in Indonesia that has since evolved into Indonesia’s leading digital media agencies. Currently, Dhanuwardoyo is the Head of Permanent Committee for Online and Print Media at The Indonesian Chambers of Commerce, the Co-Chair for Indonesia Mobile Marketing Association, and a managing partner at Nusantara Ventures, a technology venture capital fund. Previously, Shinta was the CEO of a Telkom Group subsidiary that focuses on the most trusted and biggest e-commerce portal in Indonesia, plasa.com.
Diajeng Lestari, HijUp
Despite being in the biggest Muslim population in the world, Diajeng Lestari noticed that there is a gap in the market for Muslim women fashion needs, which led her to start Indonesia’s first Muslim women fashion e-commerce site HijUp in 2011. She was inspired by a Change Management course she took while studying in Universitas Indonesia, and she did mostly everything by herself when the company first began.
Irzan Raditya, YesBoss
As the founder and CEO of YesBoss, Indonesia’s virtual personal assistant service, Irzan Raditya has built his credentials to have a strong technical and entrepreneurial background. Having graduated from the University of Applied Sciences for Engineering and Economics in Berlin in 2012, Irzan has experience working for Rocket Internet’s Zalando and Takeaway.com. He launched YesBoss in June 2015, securing over 100,000 processed requests. YesBoss has also recently expanded its reach to the Philippines, acquiring Philippines-based virtual personal assistant service HeyKuya for an undisclosed amount, now renaming it YesBoss Philippines.
Ben Soebiakto, Octovate Group
Ben Soebiakto is the founder and CEO at Octovate Group, the first Indonesian creative incubator & investment company. The Octovate Group has several companies under its wing, with Ben being the co-founder for XM Gravity, a digital marketing and media company, and the founder and CEO of Fimela.com, an online media portal for modern Indonesia women. In 2014, news portal site KapanLagi.com merged with Fimela.com for an undisclosed amount, with Ben becoming the Chief Marketing Officer of the KapanLagi Network.
Ryu Kawano Suliawan, PT. Midtrans
Ryu Kawano Suliawan is the President Director of PT. Midtrans, the operating company of Veritrans Indonesia, an online payment gateway for the Indonesian market and is a joint venture between the Midplaza Group, netprice, and Veritrans Japan. Previously, Ryu Kawano was a consultant for Bank Perkreditan Rakyat (BPR) Aneka Danaraya, a boutique microfinance firm in Indonesia, an associate at Texas Pacific Group, and an analyst at Lazard. Ryu received his MBA from Harvard in 2012.
Affi Assegaf, Female Daily Network
Affi Assegaf is the co-founder of the Female Daily Network, a digital destination catered to women. The network owns and manages several websites related to fashion, beauty, lifestyle (fashionesedaily.com), parenting and family (mommiesdaily.com) and the Female Daily Forum, one of the biggest online communities for women in Indonesia, with over 165,000 members. Previously, Affi has experienced working for MAC Cosmetics Indonesia as a PR & Event Manager and Hard Rock FM as a radio announcer and eventually a program director.
Hendrik Tio, Bhinneka.com
Hendrik Tio is the CEO of Bhinneka, a pioneer e-commerce platform in Indonesia and the largest O2O company in the IT sector. Hendrik founded Bhinneka in 1999, raising it to receive more than one million monthly active users and more than 70,000 unique products listed. Hendrik has also given Bhinekka a strong and reputable brand as an O2O firm for consumer electronics. By adapting quickly to market shifts, Hendrik has sustained Bhinneka’s growth and popularity even till today.
Steve Munroe, Hubud
Steve Munroe is primarily known for being the founder of Hubud, a collaborative entrepreneurs community and coworking space in Ubud, Bali with 250 members from 30 countries. Aside from Hubud he has also started two other businesses in the last three years, co-launching TurnPoint, a destination education company that gives people the mindset and skill set shift they need to thrive in the new economy, and LivingFoodLab, a raw, vegan teaching restaurant. Previously, Steve worked for the United Nations in various roles, with a particular focus on crisis zones and managing recovery projects for 10 years.
Rubby Emir, Saujana Indonesia
Rubby Emir is the founder and executive director of Saujana Indonesia, an NGO that focuses on social and environmental issues in Indonesia. Consequently, Rubby is also the founder of Kerjabilitas.com, a jobs listing portal specifically catered to differently challenged professionals. Ever active in social enterprises, Rubby is also the Senior Project Manager for Humanitarian Benchmark Consulting, and previously worked for the Rainforest Allicance, Danish Red Cross, Yayasan Kaliandra Sejati and Sokola.
Rudiantara, Minister of Communications & Informatics
Primarily working on the development of Indonesia’s e-commerce roadmap, Rudiantara is the current Minister of Communication and Informatics. Previously, Rudiantara has held positions on the board of directors or board of commissioners of a range of state-controlled and private companies, including Telkom, state utility corporation Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN), mining company Rajawali Asia Resources and Bukitasam Transpacific Railways. He has also served on all of Indonesia’s main mobile carriers, including as general manager for business development at Indosat, director of Telkomsel, and director of corporate affairs at XL.
RaMa Raditya and Andre Hutagalung, TerralogiQ and Qlue
RaMa Raditya co-founded TerralogiQ with fellow entrepreneur Andre Hutagalung, setting up a strategic Google for Work partner for Geo, Chrome and Business View. Both entrepreneurs would later on develop Qlue, an Android and iOS application that allows you to report anything to government offices and corporations. It aims to empower every single human being on the planet to create positive change with the reports they file on the application, creating transparency and accountability. Previously both entrepreneurs worked at Geoteq Integrasi Semesta.
Gibran Chuzaefah Amsi El Farizy, eFishery
Uniquely creating the first IoT fish and shrimp startup in Indonesia, Gibran Chuzaefah Amsi El Farizy is the young CEO and co-founder of eFishery. Already VC-funded and winner of multiple awards, eFishery primarily enables farmers to feed fish automatically, to sense fish appetite, and allow farmers to be connected to the internet. Gibran has also expanded his efforts in the agriculture industry, setting up a company called Cybreed. He remains active in the Global Shapers Community Bandung Hub under World Economic Forum, Startup Bandung Community, and several other entrepreneurial organizations.
Regi Wahyu, Mediatrac and CI Agriculture
Regi Wahyu is the co-founder and CEO of Mediatrac, a big data analytics company focusing on data integration technology. It utilises its proprietary data, technology, and analytics to create technological solutions and improve business performance. In order to grow Mediatrac further, Regi exited his joint venture business on digital marketing (Isobar) and out of home planning and buying (posterscope) to Dentsu Aegis Network. Additionally, Regi is also the founder of CI Agriculture, a social impact project that aims to deliver intelligent agriculture management system and guide smallholders getting their sustainable yield production and improving their quality of life.
Rama Mamuaya, DailySocial.id
Rama Mamuaya is the founder and chief executive of DailySocial.id, an Indonesian tech-startup blog and research company. He often helps local startups through his insights and discussions on developing web services and online products, and helps foreign companies enter Indonesia. Rama is often the focal point in gluing connections among startups, VCs, and media. Previously he was a social media strategist at bubu.com and worked as a Product & Business Development at PropertyKita.com.
Natali Ardianto, Tiket.com and #StartupLokal
Natali Ardianto sits as one of the four initiators of the #StartupLokal community and the co-founder and CTO of Tiket.com. He has made Tiket.com into an award-winning startup company, winning several awards such as Bubu Awards, AICTA Awards (ASEAN ICT Awards and Sparxup Awards among many others. As for the #StartupLokal community, Natali held monthly meetups every first Thursday for the month, inviting investors, startups and corporates to these events. Previously Natali was also the co-founder and CTO of Urbanesia.com, helping the startup reach Alexa ID rank #217 with just one server.
Original article here by e27
Attributed to Bev Tan