BRI Ventures Sets a New Managed Funds to Non-Fintech Startup in Jakarta and Singapore

BRI Ventures, a corporate venture capital under BRI, is preparing new managed funds as an investment vehicle for non-fintech startups in 2020.

BRI's Director of Digital, Information Technology and Operations Indra Utoyo ensured the license to invest in non-fintech (Special Purpose Vehicle / SPV) is on progress by the Financial Services Authority (OJK).

"It is under BRI Ventures authority, yet named a venture fund because it is to be used to any [investment] including non-fintech. [For funding] We have our Limited Partner overseas," Utoyo said to DailySocial.

In a recent interview, BRI's VP of Investor Relation and Strategy, Markus Liman has mentioned the managed funds is to be finalized by February.

There are seven non-fintech ecosystems to be targeted for investment, including agro-maritime, health, education, tourism and travel, transportation, as well as retail and creative industries.

"We are opportunistic in number, therefore, we are not targeting quantity. Instead, we already have 6-8 deals in a pipeline for a year seeing the existing bandwidth and opportunities, "he said.

Based on the latest information Markus told DailySocial, the team is currently preparing an SPV license not only in Indonesia but also in Singapore.

"There will be an entity in Singapore to acquire a license to the Monetary Authority of Singapore. However, the fund remains as an investment vehicle, "Markus said.

Meanwhile, as noted in BRI's financial statements in 2019, BRI Ventures is said to aim at the retail and creative industries as its main focus of investment in 2020.

Markus said the retail and creative industries either in Indonesia or overseas have a more mature market. He thought other business verticals require longer effort to run.

"This sector is more mature, both from [business] actors and their supporting ecosystems," he added.

BRI Ventures, which was founded in 2019, has received fund injection up to Rp1.5 trillion from its parent company. The financial report noted these funds have been distributed in three phases, Rp 200 billion (March), Rp 800 billion (July), and Rp 500 billion (December).

In 2019, BRI Ventures has just invested a total Rp278.11 billion through 17 percent investment in the LinkAja e-money platform.

–Original article is in Indonesian, translated by Kristin Siagian