The early-stage venture capital fund focused on Southeast Asia, Indonesia and Japan has hired a venture adviser as it plans to bolster its portfolio and generate more impact for Indonesia’s thriving start-up space.
East Ventures has appointed former Indonesian Cabinet minister Triawan Munaf as its first venture adviser, who will advise startups on scaling regionally, the firm announced in a statement on Tuesday.
Munaf was, until October 2019, the head of ministerial-level government agency Bekraf, which directs the country's creative economy. He is currently president commissioner of Indonesia's national airline Garuda and is the honorary advisor of the Tourism and Creative Economy Ministry.
«He shares similar values with East Ventures, and together, we want to move even faster in developing Indonesia's digital economy by leveraging his experience and ability in execution,» Willson Cuaca, co-founder and managing partner, said in the statement.
Developing Indonesia’s Digital Economy
East Ventures is a major player in Indonesia's start-up ecosystem, and has backed unicorns like e-commerce marketplace Tokopedia and travel portal Traveloka.
It has invested in the fintech sector since 2014, with companies like online-to-offline platform Kudo, which was acquired by Grab, mobile point-of-sale (POS) startup Moka, which was recently in acquisition talks with Gojek, and Helicap, a Singapore-based fintech platform that provides alternative lending services in Southeast Asia.
Over the past decade, the firm has grown its Southeast Asian assets to $1.2 billion under management for both its early-stage and growth funds.
