Indonesian Education Startups And MSMEs Grow Fertile In The Middle Of A Pandemic

JAKARTA - Startup companies (startups) must take various measures so that they are able to survive in the midst of the current pandemic situation. One of them is by maximizing innovation in order to get capital funding from investors.

It is believed that the Chairman of the Association of Venture Capital for Indonesian Startups, AMVESINDO, Jefri Sirait in an online discussion event regarding the Dynamics and Trends of Startup Funding 2020-2021. According to him, Indonesian startups will still get quite a lot of funding even in a pandemic situation.

"The pandemic will be a momentum to strengthen the collaboration of startups, MSMEs, and venture capital for recovery," said Jefri as quoted by Antara, Monday, November 2.

In AMVESINDO's record, Indonesia is still an attractive market in the Southeast Asia region for the last three years. Even the amount of funding and incoming transactions tends to increase.

In 2019, the amount of incoming funding reached 2.9 billion US dollars or around Rp42 trillion, and flowed to 113 startups. The sectors that receive the most funding are financial technology (fintech), software as a service (SaaS), e-commerce, new retail and logistics.

Until the third quarter of 2020, AMVESINDO recorded the amount of incoming funding reaching 1.9 billion dollars to 52 startups. Where the fintech sector received the most funding, followed by edutech with funding ranging from 20 million to 100 million dollars.

"There is optimism in the midst of a pandemic, Indonesian startups will still get funding and it is also encouraging because this industry, at a macro level, is estimated to be very positive," said Jefri.

Although according to AMVESINDO, the transaction value has decreased this year because investors have delayed investing. The association sees that startups that have received funding in the midst of this pandemic are those who play a role in digitizing MSMEs.

Many things are being done by startups to survive in the midst of the current corona virus pandemic situation. SiCepat Chief Marketing Officer, Wiwin Dewi Herawati, said that the company is starting to move more aggressively to develop a funding round.

"We are moving aggressively, seeing where the potential is," said Wiwin.

This logistics company stated that product innovation and marketing campaigns were some of their strategies to maintain investors' trust in the current conditions. They prioritize the use of the capital they get, including for business expansion and adding infrastructure.

One other way that startups can survive is by going public. Where they try to make efficiency from the costs they spend.

"With us going public, this is a concrete form for existing and future investors," said CEO of Cashlez, Tee Teddy Setiawan.