It will help startups scale up faster through a 16-week accelerator programme

Southeast Asia ride-hailing company Grab has launched its innovation arm, Grab Ventures, in Indonesia, which will invest IDR3 trillion (US$250 million) in Indonesian startups — to be rolled out within three years.

This initiative is an addition to its IDR10 trillion (US$700 million) Grab 4 Indonesia’ 2020 Master Plan, which aims to support the country’s goal to be Southeast Asia’s largest digital economy by 2020

The launch of Grab Ventures in Indonesia follows its regional launch in June in Singapore. It will partner or invest in startups who want to solve mobility, food, logistics, fintech and other O2O challenges.

The goal is to form strategic partnerships with these startups and possibly integrate them with Grab’s platform, advancing the company’s ambitions to become an everyday app (for example, by integrating delivery services provided by partnering startups).

Part of Grab Ventures Indonesia’s plan includes a 16-week accelerator programme called Grab Ventures Velocity, which will help startups in their scaling stage — both nationally and across Southeast Asia.

Grab Ventures Velocity is a joint venture with the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology (Kominfo), Creative Economy Agency (BEKRAF). Its partners include Amazon Web Services (AWS) and MDI Ventures, Telkom Indonesia’s corporate venture capital initiative.

Also Read: Grab teams up with Singapore Power to roll out 200 electric vehicles

AWS will provide benefits to selected startups through the AWS Activate Portfolio Plus package and also technical mentoring on platform security, scaling and best practices to the startups.

MDI Ventures, which has operations in Singapore and Silicon Valley, will provide local expertise and access to their mentors’ networks.

‘Grab 4 Indonesia’ 2020 Master Plan

In a press release today, Grab also announced milestones in its master plan.

It has expanded to 137 cities today, covering Sabang to Merauke. Grab also claims to have a 65 per cent market share.

The company’s food delivery service GrabFood expanded to over 20 new cities this year and is now in 30 cities. Its Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) in Indonesia almost quadrupled in the first half of 2018.

Its parcel delivery service GrabExpress’s GMV in Indonesia also almost tripled in the first half of 2018.

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Image Credit: Grab

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