Venture capital (VC) firms Gobi Partners and Ozora Yatrapaktaja have partnered to launch a US$10 million seed fund for women-led startups in Indonesia, called the Ratu Nusa Fund.
The fund will support seed-stage and pre-Series A companies focused on health tech, e-commerce/social commerce, future of work/education, proptech, enterprise/SME tech and fintech.
It will also focus on companies that improve the livelihoods of women and girls across Indonesia; underserved companies that reside in emerging secondary and tertiary cities such as Surabaya, Bali, Denpasar, Nusantara and Medan; as well as companies that leverage technology to broaden access and have the potential to create enhanced efficiencies and scalability.
Ozora has deep local expertise in Indonesia and a strong network with businesses, governments, organizations, and communities globally. The firm is committed to empowering the next generation of entrepreneurs to achieve Vision of Indonesia 2045.
Founded in 2002, pan-Asian VC firm Gobi Partners has US$1.5 billion in assets under management, where it supports entrepreneurs from the early to growth stages. The firm focuses on the underserved in emerging markets, empowering diverse leaders and gender equality. To date, Gobi has raised 15 funds across 13 locations and invested in over 310 startups (over 60 in ASEAN).
Thomas Tsao, Co-Founder of Gobi Partners said,
“Women entrepreneurs have long gotten a small slice of the VC funding pie mainly due to entrenched gender biases, leaving untapped potential from half of the world’s population. The Ratu Nusa Fund was designed to address this gap.
There’s nowhere better to debut our first women-centric fund than in Indonesia where there are an estimated 30 million active women entrepreneurs who stand to benefit from a thriving startup ecosystem.”
Margaret Srijaya, Founding Partner of Ozora Yatrapaktaja said,
“There is a large underserved and untapped opportunity in VC support for women entrepreneurs and women-impact businesses serving 133 million Indonesian women.
We are confident that the Ratu Nusa Fund will provide worthy women-led businesses the ability to scale its impact in this country and across neighboring markets within the Asia-Pacific region.”
Featured image: Margaret Srijaya of Ozora Yatrapaktaja and Thomas G. Tsao at the official launch of the Ratu Nusa Fund Event in Surabaya