"Sino Indo Tekno" is a new collaboration with leading China technology authority Art Dicker and his Shanghai-based Gan Bei podcast. Sino Indo Tekno will air regularly to address the growing interconnectedness of the China and Indonesia technology worlds.

In our first instalment of Sino Indo Tekno, we feature Helen Wong, Partner at leading Chinese VC Qiming Ventures. Qiming is one of China's first major venture investors into Indonesia. Helen compares and contrasts Indonesia today with the early days of the China internet, when internet platforms such as Sina and Sohu first disintermediated the media industry, while their peers eventually went on to change the face of banking, healthcare and other verticals in China. Helen sees a different evolution for Indonesia. She goes on to profile a number of China-Indonesia synergies that have emerged in the internet space, but at the same time Helen expects Indonesia to produce its own champions in areas such as AgriTech, Muslim fashion and Sharia finance.

We discuss with Helen common mistakes in blindly copying China models to Indonesia. Helen also addresses major questions such as: Using China as a guide, when will the Indo subsidy wars end? Will Indonesian consumers become good paying subscribers? Will Sino-US tensions benefit the Indonesian tech ecosystem? Will the Alibaba-Tencent rivalry spill over into Indo? How will early stage Indo start-up valuations trend?

Please tune this new sub-series of the Indo Tekno podcast!

FACT: There are 160 Chinese companies listed in the US, most of them internet companies. They represent roughly USD1.5trn in value.

FACT: From Southeast Asia, we have exactly one internet company listed in the US with a market cap of USD50b. There are moreover zero US-listed Indonesian tech companies.

What important milestones do Indonesia’s tech companies need to achieve in order for the IPO pipeline to begin flowing? How does one define a successful IPO? What are the most viable places for Indonesian companies to list? We discuss these and many other questions with one of the region's foremost tech banking practitioners, Andy Tai of Goldman Sachs.

(Transkrip Bahasa Indonesia di sini)

Southeast Asia has embraced eSports with a fervour unmatched by any other region in the world. Indonesia specifically has of recent outgrown its neighbours in eSports. As eSports has gone mobile, Indonesia has leap-frogged from notoriously poor fixed line network connectivity, to the faster speeds of its mobile networks, thus making anyone with a smartphone a potential eSports spectator, or even an athlete!

EVOS eSports co-founders Ivan Yeo and Hartman Harris join us to discuss the eSports opportunity in Indonesia. EVOS continues to add new business lines, reflecting a multiplication of opportunities in the eSports category. From professional team and player development, to "influencer marketing", to merchandising and extensive media licensing, and most recently a budding subscription business; Ivan and Hartman walk us through the ups-and-downs of being Southeast Asia's innovator in eSports.

Tune in for an entertaining discussion of eSports "influencers." Find out how EVOS has responded to the challenges of the COVID-19 era. Compare how the definition of "professional athlete" has evolved in the digital era compared to the traditional NBA or EPL star. Explore issues such gaming addiction and the risks of regulatory restrictions, and listen to Ivan and Hartman as they outline what they see as the future of eSports in Indonesia.

(Transkrip Bahasa Indonesia di sini)

The online learning opportunity in Indonesia is simply massive. EduTech now stands as one of the fastest growing areas of investment in the venture capital world, along with Fintech and Healthtech.

The country's basic educational needs moreover are acute: Indonesia is ranked #65 out of 73 participant countries in the PISA math, science, and reading ranking. Only 24% of Indonesian students passed level 2-or-above in math (PISA). This compares to 86% in Vietnam and 92% in Singapore.

In this episode, we interview industry veteran Najelaa Shihab, Founder of Sekolah.mu. Najelaa addresses a number of topics; from the basic application (and frequent misapplication) of technology to pedagogy in Indonesia, to the intricacies of how the private sector works with the public sector in improving access to learning resources across Indonesia. 

We explore the issues and inequalities that the COVID-19 has laid bare, while also discussing signs of traction in STEM training (science, technology, engineering and math) across Indonesia's school system. Najelaa also profiles encouraging initiatives to reform Indonesia's educational system. 

(Transkrip Bahasa Indonesia di sini)

Indonesia is the heaviest user of mobile apps of the world's 20 largest markets. Smartphone owners in Indonesia on average spent an astounding 5.5 hours per day on their mobile apps in the month of March, according to global mobile app analytics leader App Annie. Their peers in markets such as the US and Germany meanwhile spent a mere 2.7 hours and 2.4 hours on their phones, respectively.

We in fact view the mobile app as the single most powerful driver of Indonesia’s ongoing "leap-frog" into the digital age. In this episode we interview Junde Yu, VP Sales and Support at App Annie. Junde offers fascinating proof-points of the successful evolution of "superapps" Gojek and Grab, while offering deep analysis of mobile app categories such as Gaming, e-Commerce, EduTech, Ride Hailing and Travel. He also addresses surprising market share trends in various mobile app segments.

Junde's big prediction: Indonesia's mobile Fintech space will boast very promising innovation and growth going forward.

Please join us for this, our second instalment of the Indo Tekno podcast!

Transkrip Bahasa Indonesia: https://www.indo-tekno.com/transkrip

English language transcript: https://www.indo-tekno.com/transcript

(Transkrip Bahasa Indonesia di sini)

We’ve chosen as our first topic of discussion the largest part of the Indonesian internet economy, e-commerce, and the mission-critical enabler to its growth, logistics. The Google Temasek Southeast Asia Internet Economy Report estimated that the region’s e-commerce market hit USD38b in Gross Merchandise Value (or GMV) in 2019. Indonesia e-commerce GMV alone likely topped USD21b last year, suggesting that it is over half of Southeast Asia’s e-commerce business. 

In this episode, we interview e-commerce and logistics expert, Arne Jeroschewski, Founder and CEO of Parcel Perform.