Discuss: What’s next for Indonesia’s startup space?

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After Google’s investment in Go-Jek and increased foreign investments in startups, what’s next for the Indonesian startup scene? Will the country have more unicorns? Will it have 1,000 startups in 2020? What can make or break the startup ecosystem in the country at this point?

Let’s hear some opinions from the TIA community.

Editor’s note: Answers have been edited for clarity.

Aidil Zulkifli, founder and CEO at UangTeman

I think the next unicorn will come from the fintech space as we see a proliferation of fintech startups in Indonesia. But the question is when?

To sustain the momentum, I think it is really important for startups to have a meaningful exit where founders plow back their money, time, and resources into the ecosystem.

With regard to the government’s move for having 1,000 startups in 2020, I think it’s not meaningful at all. Why is there a hard target of 1,000? I would prefer to have an ecosystem with 50 to 100 top-performing startups vs an ecosystem with 1,000 below-average startups.

In my view, it is not in Indonesia’s interest to have 1,000 startups that are unable to attract the meaningful capital required for a meaningful exit. It is also not in Indonesia’s interest to have 1,000 startups where 900 of them fail and lose investors’ money. Instead, it is more important to have a sustainable and long-term development plan for the tech startup ecosystem here.

Let’s discuss