Monk’s Hill Ventures partner Stefan Jung sets up shop in Jakarta

Co-working space Conclave is Indonesia’s newest hub for tech entrepreneurs. Situated near Jakarta’s central business district, the building’s concrete and wood interior is the kind of place one would expect to find trendy coffee drinkers and hip musicians. I reach the top of the stairs and take a few steps inside to find Stefan Jung, partner at Monk’s Hill Ventures, sitting comfortably in an arm-chair chatting with a friend. He waves me in, and proceeds with the grand tour of Monk’s Hill’s new Jakarta digs.

Monk’s Hill Ventures is a Singapore- and now Jakarta-based VC firm focusing on series A and B tech investments. Along with Jung, the firm is headed by two other high-profile entrepreneurs and investors Kuo Yi Lim and Peng Tsin Ong.

Having founded and managed Southeast Asia’s Rocket Internet operation for more than three years, Jung is a seasoned veteran in the region’s investment space. Ong is a renowned tech entrepreneur who founded and exited from several globally recognized startups, including Match.com and Encentuate. Lim was the VP of international sales and business development for Encentuate, then served as chief executive at Infocomm Investments, the venture capital arm of Singapore’s government agency IDA before starting at Monk’s Hill.

When the company announced itself back in May, the Monk’s Hill fund reportedly had around US$80 million. But now, Jung confirms Monk’s Hill has nearly US$100 million to be invested in emerging markets like Indonesia. According to Jung, the firm’s sweet spot for investment is now sits between US$2 million and US$5 million per startup, and he believes Indonesian tech companies are now mature enough to take on such ticket sizes.

See: Investing in Indonesia: Tread carefully or go gung-ho?

A bird’s eye view of emerging markets

“Two to three years ago, there was less ambition among the entrepreneurs in Jakarta,” explains Jung, as he settles back into his arm-chair in what appears to be Conclave’s living room. “Now the quality of entrepreneurs has increased in Jakarta. Success stories like Tokopedia have made people understand a little bit more about how big a local tech startup can be.” He adds that Indonesia’s big family offices are also more savvy when it comes to investing in tech startups these days, with most of the big conglomerates adding digital arms to their core businesses.

Stefan Jung, partner at Monks Hill Ventures

Jung says that each partner at Monk’s Hill is set to add six new companies to its portfolio per year, give or take. Jung confirms that Monk’s Hill has already made four investments, but he isn’t spilling the beans just yet on what they are. “The biggest opportunities in Indonesia are not always the biggest problems to be solved,” says Jung. “Right now, I think some big opportunities are in banking and mobile healthcare.” Jung hopes to announce an investment or two at the beginning of next year. (UPDATE 12/14/14: Each partner at Monk’s Hill Ventures is set to make two investments per year, which equals a total of six investments for the firm each year. With six startups in the fund per year and a main investment period of three years, that equals 18 portfolio companies.)

While other local investors like Willson Cuaca of East Ventures believe that a time capsule comparison can be made between Indonesia and China (meaning Indonesia’s tech sector is closely comparable to what China’s was a few years ago, and therefore can potentially be predicted), investors like Jung think differently. According to him, the two closest markets to compare Indonesia to are India and Brazil. “Coming from Rocket, I was able to see and understand markets around the globe,” says Jung. “In my opinion, those two countries are the most similar to Indonesia in terms of size and development. I think some things that work in those markets can perhaps work here also.”

Hunting for traction

Jung says only a few Indonesian companies may actually be worthy of the nation’s next US$100 million investment at this point, but he’s not shy to say that local ticket booking site Traveloka could raise that much if it wanted to. Jung says if he could hop into Doc Brown’s Delorean time machine and wind the clock back, he would have invested into local ecommerce sites like BukaLapak and Tokopedia, as these marketplace business models have nowhere to go but up in the face of Southeast Asia’s consumption-driven growth.