MDI Ventures opens up the possibility of a partnership between their local and foreign portfolio companies as they scale up

On Wednesday, July 4, MDI Ventures announced a funding round for Singapore-based e-commerce management platform developer Anchanto. The funding round added the startup into the long list of foreign companies that have raised investment from the Telkom Group-backed venture capital firm. Since January, DailySocial noted that there are at least five foreign startups to have raised funding from MDI Ventures, including New Zealand’s Postr, Australia’s Whispr, the US’s Intelligence Element and Roambee.

To understand the strategy behind their moves, we sit down with MDI Ventures CEO & Investment Director Nicko Widjaja. Widjaja begins by explaining the strategic mission of investing in foreign-based companies. He stresses that all the startups that the firm has invested in are set to open an operation in Indonesia, strengthening the Telkom Group ecosystem in various business lines. Anchanto, as an example, will partner with Metra Logistics.

However, for many people out there, MDI Ventures is still synanimous with funding for local startups. This is due to Telkom Group’s commitment in empowering Indonesian startups through their programmes. Related to local startup ecosystem, Widjaja explains the synergy pattern that can be applied to support scalability and product localisation.

“Usually the local startups within our portfolio are working together with the foreign startups, and there is always a possibility for our foreign startups to invest in those startups. For example, one of our portfolio in the IoT sector already has a presence in nine countries. Here in Indonesia, they learn that one of our portfolio companies in the sector has a great understanding of the local market. Usually we bring them together to synergise. Apart from technological and knowledge exchange, the foreign IoT startup get to understand local wisdom from the local IoT startup. The local IoT startup is also able to scale up with the help of the foreign IoT startup,” he explains.

Also Read: MDI Ventures leads US$10M post-Series A funding round for Australia’s Whispir

Highlighted criteria

 

Though most of the foreign startups the firm has invested in are in the B2B segment, Widjaja opens up the possibility to invest in other segment such as B2B or even B2G. He actually stresses on the deep-tech landscape as a priority in the near future, including sectors such as digital enterprise, AI/deep learning, IoT, and big data. MDI Ventures has also begun paying greater attention to startups outside of the e-commerce and fintech categories.

When it comes to criteria for a potential investment, MDI Ventures requires startups to fulfill two major aspects. The first one would be a solid financial fundamental. The second one would be the startup’s potential to synergise with Telkom Group’s business units.

“No matter what, we can never be as flexible as other investors, which may put more emphasis on intangible criteria such as founders, ideas, and other things. They got to have a solid financial fundamental. Here is something that we have learned in the past four years: That cash-poor startups will only result in poor collaboration. Because in the end they will end up becoming just a ‘vendor’, not a ‘founder.’ We prefer startups that are looking at new market opportunity, rather than those who act more like a vendor to other companies,” Widjaja said.

Despite its investment into foreign startups, MDI Ventures also remain committed to invest in Indonesia. This year they will continue on investing in local startups, with even bigger portion than before.

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The article Strategi Investasi MDI Ventures untuk Startup Asing was written in Bahasa Indonesia by Randi Eka Yonida for DailySocial. English translation and editing by e27.

The post Indonesia’s MDI Ventures on their investment strategies for foreign startups appeared first on e27.