Vidio Bags Follow on Funding Worth of 663 Billion Rupiah from Sinarmas Group, Grab, and Others

Vidio recently announced a $45 million (over 663 billion Rupiah) funding from several strategic investors. The largest amount was provided by Sinarmas Group, PT Dian Swastika Sentosa (DSSA) through its subsidiary PT DSST Mas Gemilang (DSST). Other investors also participated, including Grab LA Pte Ltd (Grab), and PT Ekonomi Baru Investasi Teknologi (EBIT), a subsidiary of the Bali United football club.

For the record, DSSA is one of the shareholders in DANA (PT Elang Andalan Nusantara). Previously, DANA was operating under the Emtek Group.

This is Vidio's follow on funding after securing fresh funding of $150 million from Affinity Equity Partners in October 2021. Previously, Vidio was entirely owned by Emtek Group under Surya Citra Media (SCM).

The entrance of Sinarmas Group marks an open door for Vidio to collaborate strategically with its portfolios, such as Smartfren and MyRepublic. Along with its new investors, Vidio aims to drive growth and strengthen its position as a leading local OTT.

Vidio's CEO, Sutanto Hartono said, the company is to increase its commitment to users by continuously adding the best premium content with this new fund, as well as improving the features and quality of the platform.

"Aside from an exclusive Premier League airing in August and the World Cup in November, we will also be more aggressive in releasing local original series and quality soap operas to entertain streaming audiences in Indonesia," he said, Tuesday (14/6).

Investors also delivered their statements. DSSA's Director Daniel Cahya said this investment is the starting point for sustainable collaboration between the Sinarmas Group and the Emtek Group. It is also a positive act for the group, including Smartfren, MyRepublic, and other DSST digital investments, with Vidio as the content provider.

“Being the most preferred partner of Vidio is an honor for us. This collaboration is expected to bring added value, and the Sinarmas Group is fully committed to building an integrated digital ecosystem. Therefore, we are very welcome to the strategic partnership with Vidio," Daniel said.

Meanwhile, Grab Indonesia's Country Managing Director, Neneng Goenadi said, Grab and Emtek Group have an aligned vision that Indonesia's bright digital era should be enjoyed by the entire society. OTT is a sector that has experienced rapid development in the country, especially since the pandemic and the shifting focus of the entertainment industry from linear channels to OTT and streaming will continue in the next few years.

“We are pleased to be able to strengthen the strategic partnership that has been established with the Emtek Group through investment in Vidio. As the largest OTT platform in Indonesia, Vidio has a very broad reach, and we see the potential for solid synergies between the Grab and Vidio ecosystems. Together with Emtek Group, Grab will present more digital solutions with positive impacts for society and the environment in Indonesia," Neneng said.

The Milestones

According to a report from Media Partner Asia, in the first quarter of 2022, Vidio rules on top of the table for the OTT platform based on monthly active users (MAU) and total minutes streamed. The company continues to add to its content catalog in the field of sports and claims to be the most complete in Indonesia.

The list starts from the 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar, English Premier League, Indonesian Football League (Liga 1, Liga 2, and Liga 3), UEFA Champions League and UEL, NBA, European Football League (Serie A, La Liga, Ligue 1) , FA Cup, Formula One, Indonesian professional volleyball league (ProLiga), Indonesian Basketball League (IBL), Women's Tennis Association (WTA), and a wide selection of other premium sports content. Not only that, Vidio continues to actively release original content of up to three titles every month.

On a separate occasion, in an interview with DailySocial.id, Vidio's Managing Director, Monika Rudijono said that until the closing of Q4 2021, Vidio had experienced an increase in the number of MAU reaching 62 million subscribers. Among its user base, 2.3 million of them are paid users. "Vidio closed Q1 2022 with 1.9x growth in paid subscribers compared to Q1 2021," she added.

–Original article is in Indonesian, translated by Kristin Siagian