JAKARTA (TheInsiderStories) - Wahid family through PT Awadah Prima Investa has signed a cooperation agreement with Emerging Technology Company Oman (ETCO), a company from the Sultanate of Oman. The two agreed to establish a joint venture company (JVC) Salam Tech Collaborative Venture (Salam Tech) in Indonesia.
The new entity will provide and develop artificial intelligence (AI), linguistic machines and virtual reality, also augmented reality technology to penetrate local markets, Asian and international markets. In the JVC, Awadah will hold 51.1 percent of ownerships and the others owned by ETCO.
“By signing the agreement today, we agreed to form a strategic alliance by establish Salam Tech to enter the new markets and develop business nationally and internationally,” said Yenny Wahid, the daughter of former Indonesian President, Abdurrahman Wahid, in an official statement released on Monday (12/28).
Wahid stated, in the first year, Awadah will open access and integrate applications from the ETCO to potential networks in Indonesia. There will be cooperation with Blockchain Omani companies, as system providers and security maintainers for local and regional markets, she concluded.
Some experts have said AI is going to be one of the most important technologies humanity will ever invent, leaving a deep impact on society and business in a profound way. It will likely be in a class by itself and its going to be part of our personal lives, across virtually all industries.
While, McKinsey predicts AI has the potential to deliver additional global economic activity of around $13 trillion by 2030. So far, there have been accumulated investments of over $300 billion in AI, which is the largest exit was $15 billion as of July 2019.
The Group of 20 and other countries also have shared publicly that AI is one of their major initiatives because it is a strategic tool for advanced civilian and military applications. In Indonesi, the government has declared AI as one of the strategic technologies of its “Making Indonesia 4.0” roadmap, as part of the fourth industrial revolution.
According to On Lee, the CEO and CTO of GDP Labs and GDP Venture, AI represents a golden opportunity for Indonesia, with a relatively young and vibrant population of over 270 million people. The country boasts a median age of 30 and a literacy rate of 95 percent.
Indonesian AI start-ups are primed and ready to follow in the footsteps of their counterparts from other Asian countries like Japan, India, Taiwan, Korea and China, which have been successfully transforming their countries through technology. There has been a growing number of Indonesian AI start-up companies that focus on developing AI-powered products and services based on AI technology.
Recently, the Indonesian Venture and Startup Capital Association reported that total funding to Indonesian startups reached $1.9 billion until the third quarter (3Q) of 2020 with 52 transactions. According to the vice chairman, William Gozali, although the value was lower, the window for funding in local startup was still quite large.
“If it can grow by around $2 million in the fourth quarter of 2020, (the amount) is still less than 2019. The decline was caused by the funding cycle. Apart from the pandemic, the same thing happened throughout 2020,” he told in a virtual media gathering on Nov. 3.
In 2019, Gozali continued, the total funding was recorded $2.9 billion, higher than 2018 amounting to $1.4 billion. He continued, there are still plenty of room for venture capital companies to grow with startups in Indonesia.
Although the transaction values decreased, he assured, that the number of transactions continued to increase. In detail, funding in 2017 was 67 transactions. Then, 71 transactions in 2018 and 113 transactions in 2019.
The organization data also showed, until end of September, most of the funding goes for financial technology firm, with total eight transactions. Followed by funding for education technology with six transactions. Moreover, the software as a service sector also with six transactions, the new retail sector five transactions, the logistics sector and e-commerce for 4 transactions, respectively.
“We see there are optimism in the midst of a pandemic that Indonesian startups are still have a window to ge funding. Its encouraging that this industry is still positive at a macro level. Even if there is a decline, it is more of a delay,” said William.
The organization also noted that the top funding value for the six startups was still quite large, in the range of $20 million to $109 million. In the first place, the restaurant-chain operator, Kopi Kenanga worth of$109 million, Cargo Technology $31 million, and Gudang Ada amounting to $25.4 billion.
Then, peer to peer lending operator, Investree, was recorded to received funding of $23.5 million and Koinworks worth of $20 million. The last one is funding to Shipper of $20 million.
US$1: Rp14,100
Written by Editorial Staff, Email: theinsiderstories@gmail.com
