Inside the Minds of International Investors in Indonesia [#StartupAsia Preview]

When statistics for the number of Facebook users back in 2010 revealed that Indonesia was the second largest Facebook nation, it took many people by surprise. But beyond that statistical evidence of its oozing potential, what is exactly attracting international investors to enter the Indonesian market?

On day one of our Startup Asia Jakarta conference, we’re fortunate to have a power-packed lineup of international investors on board with us, discussing the potential they see in the country as investors seeking opportunities there:

Tatsuo Tsutsumi, GREE Ventures

Tatsuo Tsutsumi is a partner at GREE Ventures and has over 14 years of experience in managing and investing in internet companies. He worked for the Management Consulting Division of Sanwa Research Institute Corporation where he was involved in strategic development and implementation support of mid-sized Japanese businesses.

After Sanwa Research Institute Corporation, he joined Global Brain Corporation which is an independent venture capital in Japan. After Global Brain, he joined Cyber Agent which is major internet company in Japan, and launched many internet services and Venture Capital arms of Cyber Agent (Cyber Agent Ventures).

After Cyber Agent, he joined RECRUIT which is the largest information service provider in Japan. He developed some new business and manage Venture Capital arms of RECRUIT (Recruit Incubation Partners) and invested in 15 startups. He received a BA in Law from Keio University in Japan (BA in Philosophy) and MA from the Keio Graduate School.

Alexander Pavlov, Ru-Net

Alexander Pavlov is an investment director for ru-Net, a leading Internet and IT investment company with about 30 investments in a portfolio of $700 million across Russia, Europe, North America, and Southeast Asia. ru-Net’s portfolio includes some exciting internet and IT companies such as Yandex, Russia’s number 1 search company (symbol YNDX on NASDAQ), where ru-Net was the first investor. It also has the $100 million US arm (RTP Ventures) that was started last year and closed five deals so far in US focusing on both technology companies (SaaS, big data, parallel computing, security) as well as consumer Internet companies.

In Europe, ru-Net has a number of investments in exiting companies like Tradeshift, Delivery Hero, and made.com. Alexander joined ruNet in 2008 and since then was a part of over 15 deals. His responsibilities include finding and managing portfolio companies in Russia with key focus on e-commerce, travel, and B2C. He is also in-charge of ru-Net’s activity in SEA. In 2012, ru-Net plans to actively invest in Southeast Asia, especially in the e-commerce, gaming, travel, and online entertainment sectors.