MDI Ventures names former AC Ventures partner as CEO

MDI Ventures, a venture capital firm backed by Telkom Indonesia, announced that it has appointed Donald Wihardja, a former partner at AC Ventures, as its new CEO.

Donald Wihardja (left) with MDI Ventures leadership team / Photo credit: MDI Ventures

Wihardja will focus on strengthening the firm’s relationship with Telkom Indonesia and helping it become a multistage VC fund in Southeast Asia, according to a statement.

With years of experience in both investing and operations, Wihardja previously worked as a chief information officer at companies like payments platform 2C2P, online payments solutions provider Indomog, and private equity firm Quvat Management.

The appointment comes nine months after MDI Ventures’ former CEO, Nicko Widjaja, stepped down to join BRI Ventures in July last year.

Wihardja joins MDI Ventures’ Singapore managing partner Kenneth Li, its synergy and accelerator head Alvin Evander, and the company’s vice president of investment Aldi Adrian Hartanto in the firm’s leadership team.

Established in 2015, MDI Ventures operates in Indonesia, Singapore, and Silicon Valley. It provides seed- to growth-stage capital for early- and mid-stage companies in Southeast Asia and globally.

It currently has a total of US$290 million in assets under management across three funds, including the US$100 million MDI Fund I, US$40 million TMI Fund (a strategic fund in collaboration with Telkomsel), and US$150 million growth fund by Centauri Fund and KB Investments.

MDI Ventures is also currently in the middle of closing two new funds, a seed-stage fund and a later-stage vehicle, the company told Tech in Asia.

The company’s latest investment is in the US$13.5 million series A round of Sequoia-backed insurtech startup Qoala. Other companies in its portfolio include ecommerce service provider aCommerce, healthtech firm CXA Group, and cloud-based platform Whispir, among others.