Top 7 Unicorns in Indonesia

Located between Asia and Australia, Indonesia is one of the most vibrant locations for startups in the developing world.

In fact, according to Forbes, the country is home to the largest economy in all of Southeast Asia. And, arguably more importantly, Indonesia’s economy is also the fastest growing in the region.

The combined current and potential success of Indonesia’s economy makes it an incredibly attractive location for startups, explaining why so many entrepreneurs now call this tropical paradise home.

What Makes Indonesia an Ideal Location for Startups?

The obvious answer is that it has a hugely successful and ever-growing economy, but why is this the case?

In one sense, Indonesia’s impressive economic growth has been greatly accelerated by its flourishing startup scene and every-growing tech and internet industry. Of course, in turn, its successful startup scene and healthy tech and internet industries are on the rise due to the country’s economic growth.

It’s a self-fulfilling cycle with underlying conditions that allow both sides of the equation to be true. Ultimately, it comes down to the underlying circumstances that allow for these conditions to exist.

• Indonesia enjoys relative political stability which has come as a surprise to people from other parts of the world. Since it achieved democracy in 1998, the country wasn’t expected to thrive immediately after the fall of its authoritarian regime, but somehow, it’s proved the naysayers wrong. Despite some undeniable corruption, Indonesia’s economy has proven to be incredibly stable, making it conducive to budding businesses and a thriving economy.

• By means of the implementation of targeted economic legislation, Indonesia has been able to facilitate the establishment of new businesses, by means of regulations affecting licensing, financial support and intentionally attracting investment from venture capitalists.

• The Indonesian government has placed a specific focus on developing the country’s infrastructure, both physical and digital, including the expansion of broadband networks.

• Physical location always plays a part in countries’ ability to establish strong relationships and connections with industries in other regions. Indonesia is strategically located in a very central part of Southeast Asia.

• A very significant factor that affects a nation’s entrepreneurial drive is average age, and Indonesia has a very young population on average. According to the British Council, 52% of Indonesia’s population is between 18 and 39 years old, a combination of Millenial and Gen Z.

Indeed, two of these factors, in particular, tend to be touted as the most significant markers of a growing economy, which puts Indonesia in good stead for success. That is, a focus and marked improvement of infrastructure as well as a young population create a good environment for growth with an emphasis on the future.

Not only is Indonesia a good place to start a business on paper, it’s also ideal in practice, and the number of emerging unicorns is a testament to that.

Indonesia has had about 14 different businesses achieve unicorn status over the years, and currently, it’s home to seven. This means the country has the second-highest number of unicorns in all of Southeast Asia, second only to Singapore.

Top 7 Unicorns in Indonesia

Businesses can achieve unicorn status overnight – well, technically. In reality, a company will spend a long period of time working on attracting funding and courting investors until deals eventually become official.

Thus, a business’s official valuation may change overnight, but the truth is that normally, the deals that allow for businesses to call themselves unicorns take a long time – in some cases, years.

To be a unicorn, a business needs to be valued at over $1 billion and it needs to be privately owned. That means that unicorn status is a relatively temporary thing.

If the company drops below a valuation of $1 billion, it’s immediately dropped off the list. Likewise, if a company opts to become a publicly owned and traded entity via an initial public offering (IPO) – or as a result of a merger, acquisition or any other means of converting private ownership to public – it also drops off the unicorn list.

The point is, in order to be a unicorn, businesses have to hit a sweet spot and to stay a unicorn, they’ve got to maintain an incredibly high value by means of continued revenue generation (and/or investment) without inviting public ownership.

Clearly, it’s a tough balance to strike.

So, with that in mind, let’s have a look at the 7 unicorns in Indonesia.

1. Traveloka: $3 Billion 

Founded in 2012, Traveloka provides users with an online travel search platform, allowing users to search for just about anything and everything to do with holidays and travel. That includes flights, accommodation, tours, transportation, activities, holiday packages and more.

The idea behind Traveloka is to revolutionise the efficiency of travel logistics and coordination, making it increasingly easier for individuals to book their own holidays without having to go through (and waste money on) travel agents.

The startup was founded in Tangerang, a bustling city in Indonesia, and it received $300 million upon completion of its latest funding round at the end of 2012, resulting in its current $3 billion valuation.

2. Akulaku: $2 Billion

Akulaku is a fintech company that provides a plethora of services, including digital banking, consumer credit, wealth management and insurance brokerage in Southeast Asia. Operating in Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philipines, Akulaku aims to provide valuable services to customers who are historically underserved in emerging markets.

By means of its platform, Akulaku offers users a variety of different services, including virtual payment services and other localised services.

The startup was founded by William Li and Peter Tjokrosano in 2014 and is currently valued at $2 billion.

3. Dana Financial Software: $1.13 Billion 

Vincent Iswaratioso, founder and current CEO of Dana Financial Software, founded the startup in 2017. Over less than a decade of operations, Dana has established a large workforce including about 900 employees and achieving its $1.13 valuation in 2022.

Dana Financial Software is the developer of a payment platform that allows users to complete financial transactions via a single digital wallet. Due to the mobile aspect of the platform, it offers card transactions that don’t use cash or card facilities for paying bills, scanning QR codes, e-commerce, barcodes and more. Ultimately, the software provides a streamlined digital money process.

4. Xendit: $1 Billion 

Xendit was founded by the team of Bo Chen, Juan Gonzalez, Moses Lo and Tessa Wijaya in Jakarta in 2014, and after having received $300 million in funding, reached $1 billion status making it a unicorn.

The payment infrastructure provides financial services all across Southeast Asia, making the process of sending and receiving money more simple and user-friendly than ever. It allows businesses to be able to accept virtual accounts, credit cards and bank transfers to optimise efficiency with less risk.

Tessa Wijaya, Moses Lo, Bo Chen and Juan Gonzalez are the company’s founders. Wijaya and Lo are the company’s co-CEOs, Gonzalez is the Principal Software Engineer and both Lo and Chen are board members.

5. Kopi Kenangan: $1 Billion 

With 25 investors and over 2,000 employees, Kopi Kenangan is an Indonesian grab-and-go coffee chain. The company offers consumers fresh, authentic Indonesian coffee blends and organic palm sugar at affordable prices.

This food tech startup was founded in Jakarta in 2017 and achieved unicorn status upon completion of its most recent funding round at the end of 2022. Kopi Kenangen was founded by James Prananto and Edward Tirtanata, and Tirtanata is the current CEO.

Kopi Kenangen is now worth $1 billion.

6. Ajaib: $1 Billion 

Founded in West Jakarta, Ajaib is the developer of a smart online investment application. It’s designed to allow for the democratisation of financial products, helping people to save money and make their savings grow by investing in stocks, mutual funds and ETFs. It starts off with no account fees, low minimums which allows customers to invest in companies with far less risk than normal.

With about 500 employees, Ajaib was founded by Yada Piyajomkwan, Anderson Sumarli and Winston Lays who are now CPO, CEO and CTO respectively.

Ajaib was founded in 2018 and achieved its $1 billion valuation after bringing in a $153 million investment in its latest funding round.

7. eFishery: $1 Billion 

eFishery was established in Bandung in 2013 and operates within the world of aquaculture. It’s an operator of an aquaculture company based on IoT (internet of things), with the primary intention of reducing social and economic inequalities.

The company offers an automatic fish-feeding system for commercial aquaculture that makes use of motion sensors that can measure the appetites of fish and specific feed amounts. This allows for the provision of integrated services that enable fish farmers to increase both productivity and profits in fish and shrimp farming.

With about 2,000 employees, eFishery is currently worth $1 billion.