Eleven graduate from Plug and Play Indonesia Accelerator

• Eight pilot projects are running between batch one and two along with 18 ongoing discussions
• Startups engaged in mobility, IoT, food & agriculture tech, sustainability invited for Batch 3

INDONESIA-based Plug and Play showcased eleven startups from the second batch of its accelerator programme in front of investors, corporate, and government at an event in Jakarta.

The eleven startups were Cheers, Datanest, Duithape, Dana Bijak, Gandeng Tangan, Gringgo, Indogold, Manpro, Trukita, Periksa.ID, and Weston.

Thirteen startups joined the programme initially but Plug and Play Indonesia president director Wesley Harjono explained that had problems with manpower and faced internal conflicts.

“We value the quality of the startups that are joining this programme. They have to be able to execute well.”

During the three-month programme, these startups received seed funding, attended workshops and 1: 1 mentoring sessions, were introduced to the media, given free co-working spaces, and connected to corporates.

GK - Plug and Play (GK-PnP) currently has four corporate partners in Indonesia, namely Astra International, Bank BNI, Bank BTN, and SinarMas. The number of corporate partners is expected to continue growing.

There are eight pilot projects running between batch one and two with the corporate partners and 18 ongoing discussions.

“GK-PnP always puts forward the spirit of collaboration. Our goal is to build an ecosystem where each party has an important role. The corporation as the party owning the capital and users can synergise with startups as the party that provides technology and innovation,” said Plug and Play Asia Pacific managing partner Jupe Tan.

In the first and second batches GK-PnP focused on startups engaged in fintech and mobile. In the next programme, GK-PnP also invites startups engaged in mobility, IoT, food & agriculture tech, and sustainability.

“Overall quantity and quality of the startups from batch one and two of the programme are expanding,” adds Jupe.

Wesley says that with the first batch, GK-PnP only worked with early-stage startups, but the second batch had more mature startups.

“One of the challenges for startups in Indonesia is to scale up, where they need funding, mentorships, and connections.”

Indogold founder and chief marketing officer Indra tells Digital News Asia that after joining this programme, his company managed to make more connections and refine their business model.

“However, we also faced challenges in meeting expectations in our progress, but we have to handle it well.”

Danabijak chief executive officer Markus Prommik says, “This programme helped in terms of understanding and we learned key things as a tech company. Mentorships helped in our marketing strategy. The most important thing is, this programme taught me what real entrepreneurship is about”

To Datanest chief brand officer and co-founder Thibaud Plaquet, when it comes to building a tech company, founders usually only focus on the company itself and do not take time to look around at other potentials.

“This progamme has helped by connecting us with ‘mates’ who are facing the same issues and to mentors. We now have a better understanding of what we are doing and where we should go.”

In terms of the challenges he faced during the programme, he said, “Instead of focusing on the technologies that we can offer, I think it is more challenging to make it interesting for people who want to try our product.”

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