Brief: Indonesia boosts ‘missing middle’ startups

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The news (extracted from Tech in Asia Indonesia):

• “Nexicorn” is Indonesia’s newest government initiative in support of its startup ecosystem. It’s an event that brings post-series A startups together with overseas investors with the aim of grooming the country’s next billion-dollar companies
• The first iteration was yesterday and connected 45 local startups with investors from Japan
• The idea was hatched by the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, the Indonesian Venture Capital Association (Amvesindo), and consulting firm Ernst & Young

Why it matters:

• Developing Indonesia’s digital economy sits firmly on the current administration’s agenda. The president has signed the so-called ‘Ecommerce Roadmap‘ to coordinate efforts across various ministries. Nexicorn is one of the initiatives handled by the IT ministry. It also supports “Gerakan 1,000 Startups,” a series of events targeting early stage startups.
• While funding comes relatively easy for early stage startups, it gets successively tougher to raise follow-on money. Ecommerce startups have felt this crunch. On the other end of the spectrum, unicorns like Go-Jek and Tokopedia attract mega rounds. This is why Nexicorn targets companies in the “missing middle” segment.