Exploring Investment Opportunities in Indonesia
FuturePlay, an accelerator based in South Korea, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB), a leading national university in Indonesia, to cooperate in discovering early-stage startups in Indonesia.
The MoU aims to find talented tech-oriented individuals and teams in Indonesia that have the potential to impact the global startup market. Through the partnership, FuturePlay will explore investment opportunities for startups from an innovation and entrepreneurship hub in ITB called ‘LPiKITB’ and participate in an accelerating program to provide specialized mentoring about growing business models for early-stage startups.
Since 2017, ITB has focused on the development of ITB Innovation Park, which will be the main center of innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem. In addition to the physical construction of the building, the development of ITB Innovation Park also carried out human-ware development.
“Having the right talent is one of the most important factors for startups to be successfully created and grown. Since ITB, Indonesia’s one of the best technology institute, is consistently cultivating potential entrepreneurs and engineers, FuturePlay can discover innovative startups from ITB and support their growth,” said Jin Seung-hun, the business development lead of FuturePlay.
The partnership will also allow FuturePlay and ITB to establish strong networks between Korea and Indonesia so that tech-oriented startups from both countries can accelerate and foster their businesses regardless of the country. Sharing the strengths of the two organizations will lead to the expansion of the startup ecosystem for both Korea and Indonesia.
As one of the leading national universities in Indonesia, Bandung Institute of Technology is considered a leader in the education field of science and technology. ITB has graduated more than 120,000 alumni, including Achmad Zaky, co-founder of Indonesia's e-commerce company ‘Bukalapak’, Sukarno, the first president of Indonesia, and B. J. Habibie, the third president of Indonesia.
"We are very grateful to partner with FuturePlay to support our startups in terms of networking, mentoring and fundraising,” said Aprillia Annisa Hasibuan, business incubator manager of LPIK ITB. “We believe FuturePlay is the leading accelerator in South Korea and now expanding its market to Southeast Asia to supporting startups, especially in ITB. We look forward to a fruitful collaboration with FuturePlay as we aim to become an entrepreneurial university in 2030."
Established in 2013, FuturePlay is building and investing in startups that will change human life within 10 years. Including cold-chain startup Quicks, FuturePlay has invested in around 160 startups. It has also presented ‘Indonesia Report (Interview with Gen Z-ers in Indonesia)’ to expand its market toward Southeast Asia.