Page 42 - Forbes - Asia (December 2019 - January 2020)

SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION

ALPHA JWC VENTURES:

A RISING STAR IN SOUTHEAST ASIA’S VC INDUSTRY

With a deep understanding of the local tech sector, the venture capital firm is expanding its reach across Southeast Asia to

support innovators and their startups.

In less than four years, Alpha JWC Ventures
has established itself as a leading venture
capitalist in Indonesia’s dynamic technol-
ogy sector. Even before the firm was set
up in 2016, its Co-founder and Managing
Partner, Chandra Tjan, had already made
a name for himself as an astute investor
in Indonesia. His investments include uni-
corns such as Traveloka and Tokopedia at
his previous role as the Co-founder and
Managing Partner of East Ventures.
Alpha JWC’s main offering are two
Southeast Asian venture funds with a
strong Indonesia focus. The firm invests
primarily in early-stage Indonesian start-
ups—with the aim of discovering and
actively empowering exceptional entre-
preneurs to create enduring Industry Alpha JWC’s team consists of 21 professionals from various backgrounds, making it the
champions—and also in regional compa- largest VC team in Indonesia.
nies wanting to enter the Indonesia mar-
ket. About two-thirds of its investments prestigious and complementary back- are obsessed with being the trusted and
are in Indonesia-based companies. grounds and are the best in their class in value-adding partners to our founders, and
Besides Chandra, the firm is also led by the industry,” Chandra says. working side-by-side with them during the
Co-founder and Managing Partner Jefrey ups and downs,” Jefrey says.
Joe, formerly COO of Groupon Indonesia Founders First Philosophy Alpha JWC has shaped its portfolio into
and one of the founders of Indonesia’s Alpha JWC prioritizes the vision, passion a support network, endearingly called the
leading bill payment aggregator, Alterra. and grit of a company’s founder when Alpha JWC Family, which encourages the
With one of the largest VC teams and with it comes to assessing potential invest- startups’ leaders to work together. The
one of the largest early-stage funds in the ments. Indeed, Alpha JWC believes it firm also encourages the companies to col-
region, Alpha JWC has a deep understand- is this focus that made it the top-choice laborate and learn from each other through
ing of local market ecosystems. This allows partner to firms. regular events, trainings and non-poaching
the firm to better support startups as they “As a startup founder myself, I under- agreements.
progress on their journey of expansion. stand the challenges and hardship that “We’ve built strong and close working
“We take pride in our high-quality team, founders will need to endure in order to relationships with our Alpha JWC Family.
which is our biggest asset. They come from build a successful company. That’s why we We envision a collaborative and positive

“Alpha JWC has a complete and diverse team

that will help portfolio companies overcome
hurdles, especially in the early days, be it in
operations, legal, tech, human capital or growth
plans. The team has been very proactive in helping

its portfolio companies, largely thanks to its
investment strategy that enables them to focus
more on supporting their founders.”

— REYNOLD WIJAYA, CO-FOUNDER & CEO OF MODALKU

10 Indonesia