AC Ventures & The Indonesia Venture Capital Report 2023 with Adrian Li
Release Date: 01/30/2024
Virtuals Protocol and the intersection of Agentic AI & Web3 with Jansen Teng
Analyse Asia
"What does great look like? For us, it's being able to achieve this vision of a society of agents. So, if you can show clearly the economic value of a society when agents can influence other agents, agents can influence humans, and humans can influence agents, that would be something that I'll be very proud to say that we've accomplished. Because that's the beauty of really combining breakthroughs on the AI, on the autonomous agent front, and the value add of crypto. This is one of those very rare moments that crypto has that true potential value add, right? As a productivity lever and an...
info_outline
Why Southeast Asia Matters with Gullnaz Baig
Analyse Asia
"People always ask us this question, what can I learn from that country? People ask us about this from the report especially when we're talking to policymakers, or what should I learn from Malaysia? What should I learn? The thing to learn is to not learn to replicate exactly. But the thing to learn is sort of what are the principles behind what works for them. What are your comparative advantages, Every country needs to be asking that for themselves. So for Vietnam, comparative advantages are things like proximity to China, and an ability at a geopolitical level to navigate between...
info_outline
The Transition to Electric Buses: The KMB Experience & Philanthrophy with William Louey
Analyse Asia
“ Yeah. We plan to replace the fleet by 2040. We can't scrap all of them now because each bus lasts 18 years. So we have the depreciation for 18 years. They're all from the U.K. All the buses are from the U.K. All the double-deckers. That's the only country that makes double-decker buses, and it's the same as Singapore. All the double-deckers are from the U.K. Because of COVID, when we replace all these diesel buses with electricity, you need a lot more power and electricity to accommodate this. So the government has to work with us. But today, we can't really see that if we import all...
info_outline
The China Business Conundrum with Ken Wilcox
Analyse Asia
"But what I didn't realize is that the main reason they wanted us in China was so that they could study our business model and figure out how to copy it over time. And that was something I wasn't expecting, but I should have. If I were less naive, And if I were better prepared, I would have realized that was the intention. So the original title, the working title I had for my book, which I had to change because the publisher didn't like it, my original title was 'One Bed, Two Dreams' (同床异梦). Because that's a phrase that most Chinese are familiar with." - Ken Wilcox Fresh out of the...
info_outline
ExtraOrdinary: From Stay-at-Home Mom to Global Entrepreneur with Yvon Bock
Analyse Asia
"So, my definition of being fearless is not about no fear, but it's having that courage to face your fear, to conquer whatever adversities that are thrown your way. it is part of the entrepreneur journey. We are always faced with fear of failure. Self Doubt is how to pick up our courage and face them and use these challenges to become your catalyst for innovation, the catalyst for growth, the catalyst for your success." - Yvon Bock Fresh out of the studio, Yvon Bock, Founder and CEO of Hegen, shares her inspiring journey from stay-at-home mom to world-class entrepreneur in her new book,...
info_outline
Unlocking the Power of Generative AI in Dow Jones with Ingrid Verschuren
Analyse Asia
"So, we are very conscious of the fact that we license the content from other publications. And as I mentioned previously, we do that through licensing agreements. We are transparent with the publishers about what happens with their content. We ensure that they are being fairly compensated for the content that we use. But, as a result, when we started talking about how we wanted to use Gen AI, we actually felt that we had an obligation to go back to publishers and ask for additional licensing rights. Part of that, I think, is driven by the fact that Dow Jones is a publisher. We are a publisher...
info_outline
From Research to Real-World Impact: AI in Action with Sun Sumei
Analyse Asia
"The efficiency on top of the efficacy because it is critical that we will achieve this balance of cost and performance. And in addition to that, I think one more aspect we are putting emphasis is actually how, in the new era of AI, all pervasive intelligence and pervasive connectivity, how do we bring human, AI, and machine into a cohesive coexistence and also cohesive collaboration so that we are able to have actually the AI machine support human, empower human, and at the same time. We look at actually the design of the workflows so that we are able to extract out the value, at the same...
info_outline
The e-Conomy Southeast Asia 2024 Report with Sapna Chadha, Fock Wai Hoong & Florian Hoppe
Analyse Asia
"The key message of the report is that the fundamentals of this region are critical, they’re clear, and businesses are doing exactly, I think, what they need to do for us to move ahead." - Sapna Chadha "Given that one of the other themes we’ve had this year is trust, having a strong regulatory foundation and good constructs around that for digital financial services is critical to unlocking the next wave of growth here." - Florian Hoppe "All 10 ASEAN nations have announced their own national strategic AI initiatives or plans, and ASEAN itself has actually released a report and guide on AI...
info_outline
Data Centres in the Era of AI with Jay Park
Analyse Asia
Fresh out of the studio, Jay Park, Chief Development Officer of Digital Edge, explores the rapidly transforming landscape of data centres in the Asia-Pacific region. Kicking off with the story of Jay’s remarkable career in building cutting-edge data centres, we dive into the explosive growth fueled by AI and the innovative cooling and energy solutions Digital Edge is pioneering to address environmental challenges. Jay also examines the impact of advanced AI chips on next-generation data centre engineering and shares his vision of what great would look like to design efficient and sustainable...
info_outline
Resetting Expectations on Southeast Asia with Arnaud Bonzom
Analyse Asia
"So that's why if you have 1 billion to invest, we're not expecting the same return as if you invest 10 million. At that time, when all this money flowed to Southeast Asia, people there thought, "Oh, we made it. Now the world is looking at us. We're finally a good ecosystem.' Everyone was ready to invest in us, but that was just the tide, right? And when the tide recedes, the first place the money will leave is Southeast Asia because it's not offering the best returns. So, the money is going out, and I don't think it's coming back anytime soon. People shouldn't expect investors to be as...
info_outline"Indonesia is not of the scale of China and India. And some people argue that India and China are so vast that you can almost consider: North China, South China, East China and different parts of the world. But because Indonesia normally gets lumped into ASEAN, right? People think about, well, I don't want single country risk with a country of this size. And so that's where the differentiation came out. Nonetheless, this is our thesis. And we believe that the last 10 years have proven that thesis. So we continue to double down on that thesis. Again, we've invested in companies that are regional that come into Indonesia." - Adrian Li
Fresh out of the studio, Adrian Li, founder and managing partner of AC Ventures joined us in a conversation to delve into the dynamics of the venture capital scene in Indonesia. He commenced by tracing his entrepreneurial journey, which spanned from the United States to China, and ultimately to Southeast Asia, culminating in his transition to venture capitalist. From there, he shed light on the investment thesis of AC Ventures, their decade of investing that led to their recent successful raise of US$210m to their 5th fund. He provided an in-depth analysis of the entire venture capital landscape in Indonesia, discussing its evolution over time. To conclude, Adrian shared his vision for AC Ventures, focusing on their intensified commitment to nurturing startups in Indonesia and across the broader Southeast Asian region.
Episode Highlights:
[0:44] Quote of the Day from Adrian Li #QOTD
[1:16] Introduction: Adrian Li, Founder & Managing Partner, AC Ventures.
[2:27] How did Adrian start his career?
[4:36] Adrian’s first entrepreneurial pursuit till his move to China & then Southeast Asia.
[8:13] The origin story of AC Ventures.
[10:10] The three key things he looks for when evaluating investment opportunities.
[13:52] AC Ventures, their perspective on the Indonesian market and their investment thesis.
[17:35] Typical day for a VC like Adrian Li
[19:23] The red flags that Adrian Li watched out for in founders & startup teams.
[21:14] The startup class of 2021 vs the class of 2023.
[24:40] The Indonesia Venture Capital Report 2023 by AC Ventures and Bain & Co.
[25:22] How investors are adjusting their strategies to the Indonesian market.
[27:24] Investor preferences, unit economics and valuations on the Indonesian market.
[29:11] The challenges that the Indonesian startups face and how they are adapting to them.
[32:00] The verticals that are working in the Indonesian market.
[34:43] Indonesia's regulatory environment is supportive of startups.
[37:01] The exit landscape for startups in Indonesia.
[41:48] The Indonesia startup landscape after the ZIRP era.
[45:12] The one thing that Adrian Li knows that very few do about VC in Indonesia.
[47:38] In-country VCs vs regional VCs in Southeast Asia.
[49:43] How should investors perceive Indonesia as a single market like China & India?
[51:29] Can foreign entrepreneurs thrive in the Indonesia startup ecosystem?
[53:22] What does great look like for AC Ventures?
[54:24] Closing
Podcast Information: Bernard Leong hosts and produces the show. Proper credits for the intro and end music: "Energetic Sports Drive" and the episode is mixed & edited in both video and audio format by G. Thomas Craig.