Meet Indonesia’s Uber for garbage collection

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Hi there,

The recent death of Queen Elizabeth II imbued me with a renewed interest in London’s history.

From the Roman Londinium built on the banks of the Thames to the exploits of King Henry VIII, London’s over 2,000 years of existence is filled with color and drama.

However, what interested me the most were the stories related to city planning and resource mismanagement. Particularly, the Great Stink and Great Smog come to mind, with both resulting in thousands of deaths in the city.

Reading into these events, I pondered whether they would happen again in the near future – which threw me down a nihilistic rabbit hole.

After all, humans are creating more plastic waste than ever with only 9% of it being recycled. Moreover, nine in 10 people globally breathe highly polluted air, and governments continue to struggle to coordinate on climate financing.

So when I saw this week’s Big Story by my colleague Nikita on how Indonesia-based greentech startup Octopus is willing to take matters into its own hands, I felt somewhat relieved.

This Grab Ventures Velocity alumnus offers waste pickup for consumers in exchange for points, which can be traded for electricity tokens, data packages, and vouchers. It also offers waste management data, which is sought after by corporations. What’s notable is how Octopus saw a 26x revenue growth in the past year and how it has been profitable since its inception.

But Octopus is not the only greentech firm in the ocean with good business prospects. In this week’s Making Waves, I look at Southeast Asia’s plastic credit companies and how they could be greentech’s next big thing.

— Shadine

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THE BIG STORY

Indonesia’s ‘Uber for waste’ finds profits in garbage collection

Octopus has witnessed 26x revenue growth in the past year and plans to expand to other countries in Southeast Asia in 2023.

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MAKING WAVES

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FYI

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NEWS YOU SHOULD KNOW

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