Photo caption: Business matchmaking between startups and SOEs at the Nex-BE Fest 2022 in Bali, last week.

Photo caption: Deputy for Human Resources, Technology and Information of the Ministry of State-Owned Enterprises Tedi Bharata (seventh from left), Telkom Strategic Portfolio Director Budi Setyawan Wijaya (seventh from right), CEO of MDI Ventures Donald Wihardja (sixth from left), CEO of Telkomsel Mitra Inovasi Mia Melinda (center) posed for a group photo with startups owners after signing cooperation agreements.

Jakarta, 6 December 2022 – A subsidiary of PT Telkom Indonesia (Persero) Tbk (Telkom), Telkomsel Mitra Inovasi (TMI), and MDI Ventures has successfully held the annual 'Next Billion Ecosystem Festival' (Nex-BE Fest) in Bali last week. MDI Ventures and TMI invited digital startups and SOEs to explore potential collaborations and synergies in strategic sectors, facilitated a total of 193 business meetings between 28 state-owned companies and 32 startups in their portfolio, such as Qoala, Privy, Alodokter, Paxel and SiCepat.

The Nex-BE Fest 2022 broke a record again by facilitating a synergy value between startups and SOEs of up to 2.4 trillion rupiah. Since its first implementation in 2019, this initiative has generated a synergy value of more than 7.4 trillion rupiah from 498 “matchmaking” businesses. The number of Nex-BE Fest participants this year has increased by 3.2x, business meetings have increased by 5.4x, and the synergy value it generated has also increased by 2.7x since the beginning of its implementation.

Digital startups that have received funding from MDI Ventures and TMI have met with various TelkomGroup subsidiaries and other state-owned companies to explore new potential synergies. Well-known SOEs, starting from Perhutani, ID Food, Pupuk Indonesia, Bank Syariah Indonesia, BioFarma, Kimia Farma, POS Indonesia, and Nusantara Plantation were among the attendants at this one-on-one event. 

Deputy for Human Resources, Technology and Information of the Ministry of State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) Tedi Bharata, Telkom Commissioner Rizal Mallarangeng, and Telkom Strategic Portfolio Director Budi Setyawan Wijaya marked the Nex-BE Fest 2022 first day agenda by delivering their opening remarks. 

A signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) or cooperation agreement and panel discussion followed the opening. The panel discussion was divided in two sessions, the first one was themed "Driving Digital Transformation in SOE" while the second session was themed "Seizing The Opportunity for Digital Leap". As the core event, the discussion panel continued with a business matchmaking agenda during which startups had the opportunity to demonstrate their innovative digital solutions to SOEs.

"It is very important to pay attention to the synergy between SOEs and to utilize the collective power of SOEs assets and capabilities to support Indonesian digital startups and also value creation in national scale projects handled by SOEs. In our efforts to strengthen the digital ecosystem so that it develop on a large scale, The Nex-BE Fest 2022 is present to provide certainty in times of uncertainty in the technology industry, so that we can achieve the potential to boost Indonesia's digital economy, and to generate benefits for all stakeholders, especially the Indonesian people," Telkom Strategic Portfolio Director Budi Setyawan Wijaya said in his remarks. 

The Nex-BE Fest 2022 also included an awarding night for the best, successfully-established synergies. Metranet & Cakap (in the Pre-Employment Card content collaboration program) and Telkomedika & SwipeRX (in the digital pharmaceutical supply chain program) were recognized as the two best synergy collaborations, while three state-owned companies Telkomsel, Telkomsigma, and Telkom Business & Technology Division and three startups Privy, SiCepat, and Zenlayer won the awards for the Best Synergy Performance. 

To date, Telkom's investment in digital startups has included more than 80 companies from 12 countries, with a total commitment of assets under management reaching $830 million or equivalent to 12 trillion rupiah through MDI Ventures and TMI. Telkom in its investments targets startups with high future value and synergy value for the development of TelkomGroup's digital products.

“Compatibility occurs when companies with well-defined needs meet startups with concrete solutions to answer that question, or it could be the other way around. Often, SOEs-startup interaction also leads to the development of new product or service innovations. Through interaction, ideas are formed and previously unconnected dots are connected, leading to a new synthesis of innovation. This proves that if there is no matchmaking, we will continue to assist so that there is interaction between startups and SOEs, so that it will result in many new innovations," MDI Ventures CEO Donald Wihardja said.

The Indonesian government continues to encourage SOEs from various sectors to explore opportunities for synergy, collaboration and innovation with startups. Until now, only five SOEs have been recognized as having venture capital extensions and are actively investing in local startups. Sustainable events such as the Nex-BE Fest are expected to encourage other state-owned companies to expand their business development through a process of synergy with potential startups, in order to support the development of Indonesia's digital economy. 

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