Investment platform lets more people own a piece of Indonesian consumer startups

The team behind Angin, an Indonesian platform that connects angel investors with early-stage companies, is launching a new product called Danapati. It’s an online equity investment platform that connects investors with early-stage startups in consumer products.

“We want to be the go-to investment platform for Indonesian SMEs to raise equity from hundreds of investors in a secure and transparent environment,” says David Soukhasing, the managing director of Angin who is also leading the charge with Danapati. Unlike Angin, the interactions between companies and investors will happen mostly through the online platform, and the transactions will be smaller in size.

The Danapati team / Photo credit: Danapati

Soukhasing adds that Danapati is not a pivot for Angin, but rather an “evolution” or a “spin-off.” The team plans to work on both products concurrently.

The beta version of the platform is ready and will be fully launched by the end of the first quarter of 2020, he says, adding that they’re in talks with investors to raise funding for Danapati.

Curated environment

At first glance, Danapati’s UX design looks like typical crowdfunding platforms such as Kitabisa or Indiegogo. Soukhasing is quick to note, however, that Danapati is a “curated environment” where both companies and investors have to undergo a screening process before they can access the service.

“There’s no trade-offs for us in quality,” he says. “Screening, analysis, filtering is the same as how we do it for Angin. A promising team, promising market, and the fundamentals have to be there.”

Companies can raise between 100 million rupiah (US$7,300) per campaign and 1 billion rupiah (US$73,000) through Danapati. But Soukhasing expects the average amount to be between 200 million to 250 million rupiah (US$15,000 to US$18,200) at the start.

“Below 100 million rupiah, they can usually do with funding from friends and family or bootstrap a bit. That’s where we could bring value,” he says. “Raising over 1 billion rupiah is a more complex transaction, and if you’re raising above that amount, Angin would be a better fit.”

As for Danapati’s target investors, Soukhasing says these would include the angel investors on Angin’s platform such as C-level executives, conglomerates, and other white-collar types, while also seeking to attract entrepreneurs, celebrity influencers, as well as the Indonesians living overseas.

“Indonesians in Singapore and the United States want to give back to their country by investing in early-stage companies, but they tend to prefer smaller ticket sizes,” he says.

The Danapati website

Danapati would then take a 5% cut from each successful campaign, as well as 10% carried interest from an exit, while also exploring other revenue streams.

Non-tech potential

Largely untapped