E-commerce and Online Media Companies Top Indonesia's Most Valuable Internet Properties

When The Economist (7/7) released the World Startup Report which contains top three startups in each of 50 countries all over the world, it stated that there is currently no Indonesian startup valued at $1 billion – nor even $100 million. The top three Indonesian startups with the biggest market values according to the report are Tokobagus (OLX Indonesia), Kaskus, and online news site Detik.

Furthermore, the report also showed that Tokobagus and Kaskus, both of which are valued at US$ 80 million (around Rp 933 billion), are placed first and second. Detik, which is owned by one of Indonesia’s largest business groups, CT Corpora Group, is third with US$40 million (Rp 466 billion).

If you want to know about the current condition of Indonesian internet industry, just take a look at those three. Tokobagus has succeeded in introducing the online shopping lifestyle to Indonesian people, while Kaskus has become the largest Indonesian internet forum in which people are free to communicate and express themselves as well as sell and purchase things. Kaskus itself has become the combination of e-commerce and online media.

Meanwhile, Detik, which was established in 1998, is currently the top online media in Indonesia. Given this fact, both e-commerce and online media have become two most favorite segments in Indonesian digital industry.

Compared to five  other Asian countries included in the report, Indonesia is ahead of only the Philippines in term of its startups’ market value. In this regard, the Philippines’ largest startup, iRemit (an online payment segment), is only valued at $78 million.

Both Singapore, with its Garena, valued at US$ 1 billion, and Vietnam with its similarly valued VNG, have become the top two countries in the region with regards to startup valuations. Garena and VNG are internet companies which provide various products ranging from online games to social networking. Malaysian MOL (online payment segment) follows next with US$ 800 million, and Thailand’s AsianSoft Corp. (online gaming segment), at US$181 million of market value, is fourth.

Globally, the United States, China, Japan, and South Korea are the top startup nations leading the world with the highest valued internet companies and with the most stable ecosystems, with Google as the top company globally. South Africa even has Naspers which is valued $52 billion, although the country's second and third placed startups are valued at no more than $100 million.

This comparison should not present too much of an issue because the market condition in each country are different. Strenghtening the local market can be considered as its own achievement and certainly not the responsibilities of only the top three local Internet companies but also shared by all other local companies in the field wishing for a mature Indonesian digital ecosystem.

[translation by Rifki Aria Nugraha]

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