Octopus sinks amid unpaid staff wages, stalled acquisition talks

Octopus is in dire straits.

The Indonesia-based waste management startup has not paid employee salaries for months, and it has been exploring M&A and the sale of its assets to settle outstanding wages.

Octopus CEO and co-founder Moehammad Ichsan has been unresponsive to his staff since mid-May despite reassuring employees months earlier that payments would be made.

Insider sources who spoke to Tech in Asia estimate that in total, Octopus owes over 100 employees – some of whom have already resigned from the company – around 7 billion rupiah (US$428,800) in unpaid wages up until June. However, one source clarified Ichsan previously calculated that the debt stood at about 3 billion rupiah (US$183,479) up until February.

Octopus CEO and co-founder Moehammad Ichsan / Photo credit: Octopus

Tech in Asia reached out to Ichsan for comment but did not receive a response.

Meanwhile, other co-founders have left Octopus. This includes Hamish Daud, who stepped down as chief marketing officer (CMO) in February due to personal reasons.

Indonesian media first reported on the salary delays at Octopus in December 2023. This was also mentioned in a Tech in Asia report in January that investigated inaccuracies in Ichsan’s educational background.

See also: Did the CEO of Indonesian startup Octopus graduate from UC Berkeley?

Since then, Daud and his co-founders, Niko Adi Nugroho and Dimas Ario, have deactivated their LinkedIn accounts. Nugroho was the company’s chief technology officer while Ario served as chief people officer.

Currently, Octopus is not operational and its partnerships with clients have been terminated.

Asset sales fall short

Octopus had discussed being acquired with other waste treatment firms, including Waste4Change and Plastic Finance. However, no offers were made, according to insiders from both firms who spoke to Tech in Asia.

The sources said that Octopus did not specify its price and no further conversations have taken place since Ichsan’s last meetings with the firms in February and March.

When Ichsan was pressed for an update in May, however, he assured an employee that there would be “good progress” on the acquisition by the end of that month.

How did things get here?

Broken commitments