Minister of State-Owned Enterprises Erick Thohir last Friday (19 November) announced that President Joko Widodo will roll out an incentive called the Merah Putih Fund, a financial support targeting Indonesian digital companies and unicorns. The fund will be launched in mid-December, the minister said at Hipmi Technopreneur Festival. 

Erick also said that the rationale behind the initiative is the fact that most Indonesian digital companies are now dominated by foreign investors. Minister of Trade Muhammad Luthfi shared the same opinion, saying that Indonesia has several unicorns, such as Tokopedia, Gojek, OVO, Ajaib, Bukalapak and Traveloka, but all of them are actually dominated by Singaporean investors. 

Luthfi also said that Indonesia has a huge potential in the digital economy. “Our digital economy grew to $44 billion, and I predict that it may grow 8-fold and we may reach $323 billion by 2030,” he added. 

Erick also elaborated the three conditions that a company should have in order to receive the Merah Putih Fund. First, the founder has to be Indonesian. Second, the company should operate in Indonesia. Third, it must go public on the Indonesian stock exchange. 

According to Tempo, Deputy Minister of State Owned Enterprises Kartika Wirjoatmodjo said that three state-owned venture capitals, namely MDI Ventures (owned by Telkom), Mandiri Capital Indonesia and BRI Ventures, might be the initial inventors of the fund, although it is not yet final.