Now that the Jakarta Founder Institute (JFI) has been running since 2011, Tech in Asia feels its time to reflect on its progress, and take inventory on startups that have entered the program and come out the other side.
The Founder Institute claims to be the world’s largest entrepreneur training and startup launch program. It aims to help aspiring founders around the world build sustainable tech enterprises, working closely with them from idea phase to product launch. It currently has chapters in more than 40 countries worldwide, many of which are emerging markets like Indonesia. The Jakarta chapter is headed by serial entrepreneur Andy Zain, who is also the managing director of local venture capital firm Mountain SEA Ventures.
So where are the JFI grads now?
According to a JFI slideshare presentation, the program charges entrepreneurs a little more than US$5,000 to enter. That’s no small amount of pocket change for bootstrapping startups in Indonesia, as that money could also be well-spent on company infrastructure. So how much value does JFI add to the startups that come through its doors in Indonesia? We thought we might answer this question by looking into some of its local graduates. Some of the JFI companies are true success stories. Others are not. Here are the ones that interested us most, in no particular order.
Adtik (graduated September 2013)
Adtik was an Android cross-promotion network, founded by Alan Chang. It aimed to help local developers with a limited marketing budget implement free promotions for their apps. Chang confirms the site is no longer active, as he wanted to pursue another venture. Today, he is a resident expert at Mountain SEA Ventures, and the founder of Rehack – one of Mountain’s Ideabox startups – a self-proclaimed combination of hacker lab and idea incubator.
Aibilities (graduated February 2012)
Aibilities combines healthcare and technology to provide a communication platform for patients with movement disabilities. Aibilities was named “Best Rising Startup” at SparxUp the year prior to its graduation. Although the company hasn’t received much news coverage recently, Abilities is still up and running.
Aibilities blink-control user interface.
Babybind (graduated September 2013)
Babybind is a social journal mobile app, which helps parents document their baby’s moments digitally via smartphone. Users can also share moments with relatives or friends through social media. The app was last updated on Google Play in December 2013 and less than 1,000 downloads. The company’s blog is up, although it has not been updated since July 2013. Alexander Winata, founder of Babybind, has been unreachable.
Codemi (graduated September 2013)
Codemi is an online learning website for both students and teachers. The company provides various ecourses in a range of subjects from business to cooking, and even singing. This site is still up and co-founders Zaki Falimbany and Faisal Reza are actively looking to scale up its business this year. Earlier this month, Codemi also was named one of Ideabox’s 18 finalists for its second cohort.
Mitra Micro (graduated July 2012)
Mitra Micro is a platform that aims to make insurance available and accessible to undocumented Indonesian workers with low incomes and limited coverage. JFI grad Hendra Suryakusuma still claims to be the company’s founder, but says that Mitra Micro is “dormant” at the moment.
IndoTrading (graduated September 2013)
IndoTrading is a marketplace for business-to-business deals in Indonesia. It mainly targets SMEs that are not well-versed in online marketing. IndoTrading is a localized version of China’s ecommerce giant Alibaba. Founder Handy Chang still works there, and last we heard from him, the company secured seed funding from Rebright Partners in October 2013.
Wujudkan (graduated July 2012)
Wujudkan is a platform that helps artists and creatives get capital for their projects via crowdfunding. The site is still live, but for two years an icon on the homepage has indicated that it’s still in beta phase. The original four JFI founders were Mandy Marahimin, Dondi Hananto, Zaki Jaihutan, and Wicak Soegijoko. Marahimin says:
Out of the four of us, only three still work for Wujudkan: Mandy, Dondi and Zaki. Out of the three, I am the only one who is taking care of its operations. Dondi is taking care of his own VC and Zaki is still working for a law firm in Jakarta. We are still in beta phase, hopefully not for long. Currently we are rebuilding the site and hope to launch in one or two months.
Socentix (graduated July 2012)
Socentix is a cloud-based solution offering business intelligence for alternative asset managers. It claims to be the one and only platform for green and socially responsible investments in Indonesia. The website is quite developed with multiple language options and a great deal of company information. Founder David Darmawan says the site is “alive and kicking!”
Jagad (graduated September 2013)
Jagad is an Indonesian marketplace for travel and rental cars. With its primary service Travelcar, Jagad claims to provide the fastest and easier car rental service across the archipelago. The website is active and responsive, and the founders, Agung Firdaus and Amar Alpabet confirm that the company is stable and growing.
Stilomo (graduated July 2012)
Stilomo was a mobile app that helped users find the most interesting food promotions in town. Co-founder Stanley Octavian says Stilomo is no longer running, and he has since moved on to a new ebook startup called LIVI, a platform and device for the Indonesian market that he says will launch within two months.
This post Taking stock of Jakarta Founder Institute grads: Who’s still standing? appeared first on Tech in Asia.
