Indonesian investment firm Kinesys Group has appointed a former executive director of CyberAgent Capital, Steven Vanada, as managing partner, Daily Social reports.
“Steven has a very strong investment background. He has been investing in Indonesia for the past eight years. He is one of the earliest investors in the ecosystem and we both shared the same vision to support entrepreneurs in Indonesia and Southeast Asia,” Kinesys Group founder Yansen Kamto told KrASIA.
The firm is currently preparing USD 20 million to invest in local early-stage startups with an average ticket size up to USD 500,000. It wants to bet on startups in new retail, entertainment, lifestyle, travel, and education; Kamto sees there is an uptick in consumer confidence and purchasing power in Indonesia. Moreover, with the rise of the middle class in the country, those sectors have good potential to grow further next year. The fund is expected to close by March 2020.
Kinesys Group was founded by Yansen Kamto in May 2019. Kamto is a familiar face in the the Indonesian tech community as he previously founded startup ecosystem builder Kibar, and co-founded accelerator firm Digitaraya. Patrick Waluyo, managing partner of Northstar Group, currently serves as an advisor for Kinesys.
The firm’s first investment went to Wahyoo, a startup that empowers Indonesian traditional street-side eateries, called wartegs, with technology. It also invested in edtech startup Zenius Education, power bank rental service provider ReCharge, Muslim community app Umma, and a beverage startup called Goola. Kinesys wants to invest in three more startups before January next year.