Startup fundraising, followed by a celebratory media announcement, is an endearing ritual that ecosystem players in Indonesia participate in with a sense of guilty pleasure.
On one side it seems unnecessary to brag about the size of one’s war chest. Many startups prefer not to say how much they’ve raised.
On the other, putting a price tag on the announcement can help the ecosystem. It’s a signal to outsiders that the tech industry should be taken seriously.
I’m pretty sure that’s one of the reasons Tokopedia chose to disclose its US$100 million investment from Sequoia and Softbank in 2014. Mainstream media devoured the news; it was a real turning point in public perception of startups.
Overnight, startup reporting moved from the lifestyle section to the business desk. (This literally happened at one of the English language newspapers in Indonesia.)
It also catapulted ecommerce marketplace Tokopedia into the limelight as Indonesia’s top-funded startup ever – it still sits there, one and a half years on.
Where’s Go-Jek? What about Traveloka, Bukalapak, and Matahari Mall, you ask? All of those companies are extremely well-funded and would probably rank high on this list, but they haven’t disclosed the exact amounts.
So here’s a list of the top 15 most-funded venture capital-backed startups that made it clear how much they’ve raised, as per Tech in Asia‘s database. Please also note that we excluded corporate tech ventures.
Infographic and artwork by Tech in Asia’s Kathrinna Rakhmavika.
Note: This post was originally published on April 4, 2015, written by Leighton Cosseboom. The text and graphic are now changed with the latest data available in 2016.
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