Only a few days to go before 2020 when the anchor of the new decade is raised. And there is a sense of excitement and excitement here and there in Indonesia. One of them is the Indonesian startup’s industry, which has played a key role in the formation and development of Indonesia’s digital economy.
In particular, there is some gloomy news surrounding the leaders of the Indonesian startups in 2020. That’s because doubts are rising about the future of decacorns and unicorns.
In fact, the Indonesian startup industry has been enjoying remarkable growth since the mid-2010s. When the digital economy has been expanding in earnest.
Five of the 11 unicorns in Southeast Asia are based in Indonesia, proving the hot start-up craze. In Indonesia, Tokopedia, Bukalapak, and Traveloka have enhanced their status as unicorns.
With Go-Jek in the field of mobility the only decacorn. In the second half of this year, OVO, a mobile wallet, joined the unicorn ranks.
The other side of Indonesian startups
However, the rapid growth of Indonesian Unicorns seems to have been put on hold. This is due to the emergence of profitability problems that have caused Uber, the world’s largest car-sharing company, and WeWork, the world’s largest shared office company.
One example is that Gojek recently announced that it will stop most of its life-style service called GoLife, which is available through its app. According to foreign media, Gojek said it would phase out the GoLife service, excluding massage and cleaning agents, which accounted for about 90 percent of existing customer orders.
Experts interpreted Gojek should establish a business model based on profitability, not total transactions. On top of this, the Lippo Group reportedly sold about two-thirds of its shares in Ovo.
Rumors of a merger with Dana have also persisted. With the group’s founder openly expressing concerns over a cash drain. Earlier in September, Bukalapak decided to lay off about 250 employees, or 10 percent of its workforce, and to cut some of its services in a bid to cut costs.
Over the past few years, Indonesian start-ups have achieved remarkable growth on the back of their pouring investment. However, growing calls for qualitative growth are growing. As the controversy over the corporate value among startups that have been preoccupied with growing big around the world.
In other words, more and more investors are looking for immediate results through a strategy of choice and concentration. The Indonesian Unicorns, which have been running fast in the face of future growth, have no choice but to pay attention to their profitability. There are early predictions that the Indonesian start-up industry, excluding several sectors, should be conservative. This is why 2020 is more important for the Indonesian startup industry, which faces fundamental issues of profitability.