Here’s how 10 of Indonesia’s richest families invest in tech startups

Image by Bagus Ghufron

In recent weeks, Tech in Asia asserted that Southeast Asia’s business landscape will soon belong to the generation that came of age at the turn of the millennium. In Indonesia, this means second and third generations of the nation’s family-owned conglomerates will have more decision-making power.

These young and ambitious individuals will inevitably start looking for new investment opportunities. Deep pocketed millennials in Indonesia have legacies to uphold, but they’ll also be expected to chart new territories and stake new claims. In this writer’s opinion, those new claims will undoubtedly be in tech.

Tech investing is attractive to this group of millennials for a number of reasons. First, they inherently understand the potential of Southeast Asia’s digital economy far better than their parents. Second, new tech ventures are less risky in terms of upfront capital, yet if successful, can yield large upside benefits.

A family-run firm in Indonesia that’s made its fortune in oil palm plantations, for example, is far less likely to bat an eye at a US$100,000 seed investment in a fledgling ecommerce firm than it would about pumping millions into a new Kalimantan plantation. Mitigating overhead costs is the name of the game. Likewise, a real estate tycoon is surely less risk averse about coughing up US$300,000 for a dating app than he would be about building a new shopping mall super block in West Jakarta – we’re talking hundreds of millions.

In fact, the transition has already begun. Indonesia’s big families recognize they must be a part of the tech boom, or face certain redundancy in 10 years’ time. In no particular order, here are 10 of Indonesia’s family-owned conglomerates that have begun investing in the nation’s tech startups. While not all of them are driven by millennial heirs, they are likely listening very closely to those that are.

See: Southeast Asia’s top 37 startup investment firms

1. Lippo Group

Venturra Capital managing partners John Riady (left), Rudy Ramawy (middle), and Stefan Jung (right)

In the past year, Indonesia’s Lippo Group has certainly been the most vocal about its role in the nation’s tech and ecommerce landscape. Historically, the firm is well-known as one of the largest real-estate development companies in Southeast Asia. It also has other large scale holdings such as Siloam Hospitals, the nation’s Matahari Department Stores, and many more in Indonesia.

In recent months, Lippo launched and invested in MatahariMall, an ecommerce firm that hopes to dethrone Lazada Indonesia as the number one estore in the archipelago. Lippo Group has made several other tech investments, but the most noteworthy move it’s made to date has been its sponsorship in Venturra Capital, a US$150 million fund for startups in Indonesia and Southeast Asia.

See: Stefan Jung, John Riady, Rudy Ramawy launch Venturra Capital with $150m

2. Sinar Mas

3. Emtek

4. Salim Group

5. Djarum

6. Kompas Gramedia Group

7. Ciputra Group

8. MedcoEnergi

9. MNC Group

10. Bakrie Group