|
The effort aims to keep foreign startups from dominating a
market of 640 million people by assisting the region's estimated
seven to ten unicorns, or companies that have attained a
valuation of $1 billion without tapping the stock markets.
"I've discussed this strategy with other ministers in Southeast
Asia and have offered to everyone to adopt existing unicorns and
have a presence in each other's countries," Minister of
Communication Rudiantara said in an interview.
"I'm really passionate about the issue and have discussed it at
our last Association of Southeast Asian Nations ministers'
meeting," he said at his office, adding that he would discuss
the matter again at the next meeting of ASEAN ministers in Bali.
The suggestion drew a positive response from ministers from
Thailand and Singapore, said Rudiantara, but did not mention
whether funds would be allotted to the effort.
Rudiantara, who uses only one name, told Reuters he had spoken
to his Philippine counterpart to offer help for the neighboring
nation's developer of prefabricated homes, Revolution Precrafted,
to expand to Indonesia.
"I told them we need to build millions of houses in the country,
why don’t you come to Indonesia soon, I will facilitate,"
Rudiantara said.
He gave no details of the help offered, the response of the
Philippine minister, or outline how the plan would work,
however.
Revolution Precrafted did not immediately answer a request from
Reuters to seek comment.
Indonesia has four unicorns: ride-hailing and online payment
company Go-Jek, travel site Traveloka, and market places
Bukalapak and Tokopedia.
Rudiantara said he had lobbied his Thai and Vietnamese
counterparts to help support the international expansion of Go-Jek,
which is backed by Tencent Holdings <0700.HK> and Alphabet Inc’s
<GOOGL.O> Google.
Go-Jek launched in Vietnam on August 1 under the name Go-Viet
and is expected to launch in Thailand in the fall. The company
had said it would also expand to Singapore and the Philippines.
Asked about Singaporea's response to negotiating for the
expansion of Go-Jek, however, he said, "Go-Jek is not as
applicable in Singapore, it's a small market."
A spokesman for Go-Jek declined to comment.
Malaysia's ride-hailing platform Grab and Singapore-based
e-commerce company Lazada are among the other Southeast Asian
unicorns.
(Reporting by Fanny Potkin and Cindy Silviana; Editing by
Clarence Fernandez)
[© 2018 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2018 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
 |
|
