Indonesia’s largest mobile carrier Telkomsel launched a new corporate venture capital subsidiary named Telkomsel Mitra Inovasi (TMI). According to an official statment, the new initiative will focus on Series B investments for growth-stage startups.
Telkomsel is committing USD 40 million (IDR 575 billion) in funds to be invested through TMI and it will do so in collaboration with Telkom’s corporate VC MDI Ventures and Innov8, the corporate VC arm of Singapore’s Singtel. Telkom is Telkomsel’s parent company.
TMI will be responsible for managing investment funds as well as strengthening the synergy and collaboration within various Telkomsel business units. TMI invests in companies that have the potential to collaborate with Telkomsel, especially in big data, IoT, and the media sector, and will make use of its access to the assets and competencies of the Telkomsel.
Telkomsel has been a supporter of Indonesian startups in the past few years, and it’s partly out of necessity. The mobile carrier needs to build close ties and tap new sources of revenue in the digital ecosystem as its core business has been declining.
In 2015, the company launched NextDev, an accelerator program that aims to help local startups scale their business. NextDev has been working with 5,000 startups from 20 cities throughout Indonesia.
Last year, the company also launched the ‘Internet of Things’ Innovation Center to help accelerate the growth of an IoT ecosystem in Indonesia. It is providing IoT laboratories and bootcamp programs for startups, developers, and system integrators.
Editor: Nadine Freischlad