Meet Indonesia’s newest venture fund, backed by one of Tokopedia’s co-founders

The five founders of Indogen Capital. Clockwise from front left: Teezar Firmansyah, Leonitus Alpha Edison, Hendry Willy, Nararya Ciputra, and Chandra Firmanto.

Indogen Capital is a new addition to a growing support system for entrepreneurs in Indonesia.

It’s been flying under the radar for several months and today told Tech in Asia that it has already signed three deals. Two are with Indonesian startups Ahlijasa and HijUp. The third is with Insight Medica from Singapore.

He gives founders advice on how to avoid the problems he’s faced before.

“We look only at companies that are beyond the seed stage, and typically invest between US$150,000 to 500,000,” said Teezar Firmansyah, one of the fund’s five founders.

The size of the fund is confidential for now. It contains cash the partners put in from their own pockets, and those of family members and friends. The plan is to continue fundraising and to close the fund by the end of the year.

Founder-friendly

Indogen says of itself that it is particularly founder-friendly.

It’s got a good argument to back this up. One partner is Leontinus Alpha Edison, who co-founded Tokopedia – one of Indonesia’s most prominent and well-funded startups.

Leon, together with William Tanuwijaya, built Tokopedia from scratch almost eight years ago. “He has the patience to tell the story of his success,” says Hendry Willy, a childhood friend of Leon’s and also Indogen partner. “He gives startup founders advice on how to avoid all the falls and problems he’s faced before.”

The VC firm says it wants to help its portfolio startups by mentoring them on how to negotiate founder-friendly deals.

Leon isn’t the only prominent name in the gang. There’s also Nararya Ciputra – a member of one of Indonesia’s richest business clans. The conglomerate is primarily active in real estate development but is also known for its philanthropic contributions in arts and entrepreneurship. It operates a big art exhibition space, for example, and offers free online courses on entrepreneurship as a spin-off of its Ciputra University. Chandra Firmanto is the VC firm’s CEO.