AC Ventures & Investing into Indonesia with Helen Wong

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May 7, 2023

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INSIGHT

Indonesia's Rare Sweet Spot

Indonesia combines large population, rising GDP per capita, and steady GDP growth making it a rare, attractive emerging market.
Rapid digitization and ~70% internet penetration create ready infrastructure for payments and logistics-led startups.

ANECDOTE

From Nascent China To Golden Era

Helen moved to Shanghai with GGV in 2005 and witnessed China's internet grow from under 100M users to hundreds of millions.
She describes seeing the transition from copycat startups to original innovation like TikTok over 17 years.

INSIGHT

VC Ecosystem Strengths Beyond Users

Talent density, available follow-on capital, and a local exit market make Indonesia especially attractive for VCs.
The IDX opening and recent IPOs show viable local exit pathways beyond M&A or US listings.

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"I would say first of all Indonesia is probably one of the remaining opportunities in a huge market, that's more or less homogeneous with a population of 270 million. You have to look at the G D P per capita is around 4,000 and then the GDP (gross domestic product) growth itself: it's about 5%. So I think you are hard-pressed to find any other country that matches these three very promising criteria. I would say that secondly, on the technology side, a high level of digitization has taken place and internet penetration has grown very quickly, especially during covid. So we are about 70% internet penetration and the whole digital infrastructure is ready for companies to take advantage of them, by that I mean things like payments and logistics. Then I would say that there are other factors that make this market attractive more for the venture capital ecosystem. One is talent. I think you'll find the most number of entrepreneurs in Indonesia in the Southeast Asia region. Number two is you can find follow on capital. for early-stage investors, that's really important, right? Thirdly maybe most importantly, you can find a local exit market. So the IDX is open for iPOs and we've had three IPOs in the last two years. so I think those are the most attractive factors when you think about Indonesia as an emerging market." - Helen Wong

Fresh out of the studio, Helen Wong, managing partner from AC Ventures joined us in a conversation about AC Ventures and the firm's investment thesis onto the largest economy in Southeast Asia: Indonesia. Helen began with her background story from how she started in Silicon Valley, then moved to China and witnessed the rise of the Chinese tech scene. Following on, she explained her mental model in how she evaluates and invests in founders from the Indonesian tech scene. Last but not least, she discuss what great would look like for AC Ventures in Southeast Asia.

Podcast Information: The show is hosted and produced by Bernard Leong (@bernardleong, Linkedin) and Carol Yin (@CarolYujiaYin, LinkedIn). Proper credits for the intro and end music: "Energetic Sports Drive" and the episode is mixed & edited in both video and audio format by G.Thomas Craig (@gthomascraig, LinkedIn).