MDI Ventures Officially Launched Business in Singapore After Acquiring License from Local Authority

MDI Ventures is officially launched in Singapore. As Nicko Widjaja said to DailySocial, MDI Ventures Singapore Office (MDI SG) has been developed since April 2019 and acquired a license under Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).

MDI SG is led by Shannon Lee. He was the Lead of C31 Ventures, corporate venture under the biggest real estate holding in Singapore, Capitaland.

"After spending two months looking for and interviewing more than 20 potential employees, we're proudly welcome Shannon Lee as Director of MDI SG. I believe she'll make a perfect team for us in this region," Widjaja said.

Business Development in Southeast Asia

Seen from the current portfolio, MDI investment includes more than 10 countries. The Singapore office launching is due to the regional ecosystem that is quite thrilling.

"We've been running business globally. Our team always working mobile everywhere worldwide."

He also said, "Southeast Asia ecosystem goes more captivating for the eye of foreign investors, then we decided to split and become fully venture, not restricted by Telkom Indonesia."

As the real example, MDI Ventures is in a discussion with some of the South Korean investors to be in charge of their funding management in Southeast Asia.

According to Bloomberg, Widjaja also explained the shrinking investment of venture capital in China. The trend might be flowing to the other area, Southeast Asia.

"MDI Ventures is the first venture capital that is getting involved with state-owned enterprises (BUMN). We've consulted with some global company and experts in this landscape. We've collected insights from all over the country in Southeast Asia, and realize that each market is very unique," he added.

"It's going to be hard for Japan or South Korean investors to handle Southeast Asia with the same strategy. Our many partnerships with support from the parent company, Telkom Indonesia, has brought us to the series of unique insights for this industry."

MDI Ventures and Telkomsel Mitra Inovasi

We also mentioned MDI differentiation with TMI, Telkomsel's new sub-unit. He, representing MDI, said TMI act as a limited partner for the fund II. Telkom Indonesia, took part as limited partners in the fund I.

"The distinction between us with other VCs is in term of transferring insights to our partners, for someday, they can start investing independently. This is also part of Singapore's office purpose, to share the best practice in this region. Somehow, our track record in the region is that the balancing act, between strategic synergy and capital gain," he said.

– Original article is in Indonesian, translated by Kristin Siagian