MDI Ventures pools over 60 angel investors to fund Indonesia's early-stage tech startups

INDONESIAN giant Telkom's venture capital arm, MDI Ventures, has launched a network to attract high-net-worth individuals to finance its local early-stage pre-seed tech startups.

The network, called eMerge, has over 60 angel investor members, ranging from startup founders to conglomerate owners, according to MDI Ventures.

eMerge has closed its first investment of an undisclosed amount in GOX, an Indonesian livestream video platform and community for gamers, MDI Ventures announced in a press statement on Tuesday (Dec 21).

Members of eMerge invest via a syndicate and pool money through a special purpose vehicle company, MDI Ventures added. These angel investors may also co-invest alongside the venture capital firm.

MDI Ventures, one of the most active corporate venture capital investors in South-east Asia, manages around US$900 million in assets and has invested in over 50 startups in 12 countries. It also has a track record of exits - 3 portfolio companies have gone public, while 6 have been acquired by third parties. The parent of Kredivo, another portfolio company, is merging with a US blank-cheque company at a US$2.5 billion valuation. Singapore-based Nium, also a portfolio company, was recently valued at more than US$1 billion.

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