Saratoga Owned By Conglomerates Edwin Soeryadjaya And Sandiaga Uno Is 'Diligent' In Giving Billions Of Funding To Startups, Who Are They?

JAKARTA - PT Saratoga Investama Sedaya Tbk (SRTG) still hasn't stopped "hunting" for startups. The company's portfolio, owned by conglomerates Edwin Soeryadjaya and Sandiaga Uno, has expanded to renewable energy startups.

Saratoga previously had portfolios in insurtech, fintech and e-commerce solutions. As for the corporate action for renewable energy startups, SRTG has just carried out PT Xurya Daya Indonesia (Xurya).

In this corporate action, Xurya received Series A funding worth US$21.5 million or equivalent to Rp308 billion in 2022. This funding was led by Saratoga together with venture capital firm East Ventures.

The funding injection was also channeled by Xurya Daya's old investors, namely Schneider Electric and New Energy Nexus Indonesia. In his official statement, quoted on Thursday, January 13, Managing Director of Xurya Daya Indonesia Eka Himawan said that the company would allocate this funding to continue the construction of rooftop solar power plants (PLTS) in the country.

He said that the demand for rooftop PV mini-grid installations will triple in 2021. This funding will help the company achieve its long-term vision of becoming a leader in providing technology and solutions for clean and sustainable energy.

"We appreciate the support and trust given by investors, partners and customers to help us accelerate the transition of new renewable energy in Indonesia since Xurya was founded 3 years ago," he said.

In addition, the series A funding will also be allocated for the development of technology and human resources to accelerate the acceleration of the clean energy transition.

President Director of Saratoga Investama Sedaya Michael Soeryadjaya said that this step was the company's step to strengthen support in the new and renewable energy technology (EBT) sector, which is now one of the priority energy sources. He believes that rooftop solar power plants will provide a solution for the availability of clean, environmentally friendly and sustainable energy.

"The very rapid growth of Rooftop PLTS installed capacity in the last three years proves that the need for the NRE technology industry is getting higher in Indonesia," he explained.

Until the end of 2021, Xurya has operated 57 Rooftop Solar Power Plants. Currently, the start-up company is engaged in PLTS rental services, is building similar projects in 38 other locations from various industries and businesses. Some of their customers come from manufacturing companies, cold storage, hotels, to shopping centers spread across Jakarta, Banten, West Java, East Java, Central Java, Lampung, South Sumatra and North Sumatra and South Sulawesi.

Saratoga's startup collection grows

Saratoga's entry into Xurya has increased the company's startup collection. Previously, in 2021, SRTG was noted to have added to its portfolio at startups through Sirclo and Fuse.

Saratoga participated in the funding round for the two startups last September. Sirclo is a startup in the field of e-commerce solutions. In September 2021, Sirclo received funding of US$36 million or around Rp515 billion.

The funding round was led by SRTG together with East Ventures. Apart from the two companies, Traveloka, Sinar Mas Land and other investors also participated in the funding round.

With this funding, Sirclo plans to develop its technology infrastructure as well as expand the services it offers to business owners. So far, Sirclo has developed a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform called SIRCLO Store, to help companies in Indonesia sell online through various channels at once, such as websites, marketplaces, and conversation-based sales.

Also in September 2021, Saratoga will participate in the series B funding round received by Fuse. Just a note Fuse is a start-up company engaged in the insurance sector (insurtech). However, it was not stated how much the additional funds would be worth in the round.

Previously, in August 2021, Fuse also received funding led by GGV Capital with participation from previous investors, including East Ventures (Growth Fund), SMDV, Golden Gate Ventures, Heyokha Brothers, Emtek, and others.

Fuse was founded in 2017 and is operated by Andy Yeung and Ivan Sunandar. They already have more than 60,000 agent/broker partners and have collaborated with more than 30 insurance companies in the field with more than 300 insurance products on the platform.

Thus, the inclusion of Xurya, Fuse and Sirclo into the Saratoga portfolio, makes the company's startup collection more complete. Because SRTG has already injected funds into PT Julo Teknologi Finansial (Julo), which is a peer-to-peer (P2P) lending fintech.

The company, which already has a permit from the Financial Services Authority (OJK), implements big data and machine learning technology in the loan process.