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The state-owned bank has launched  a new VC to focus on growing e-commerce

Following the footsteps of state-owned telecommunications company Telkom, Indonesia’s Bank Mandiri announced on Monday the founding of new VC Mandiri Capital.

Backed with IDR500 billion (US$37 million) in funding, the VC aims to support tech startups working on innovative solutions for e-commerce, particularly payment gateways.

“Seeing the potential of local startups in developing e-cash businesses, we just cannot wait to start investing in them,” said Budi G. Sadikin, Managing Director of Bank Mandiri.

He also said that the bank is currently looking for executives to head the new VC.

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Mandiri Capital has secured an official licence to operate from the Financial Service Authority. The regulator said that it encourages all local banks to facilitate the digital industry’s growth by granting entrepreneurs loans.

The Financial Service Authority also said that it is going to release new investment guidance for tech startups by the end of 2015.

Apart from Telkom, which runs several incubation and acceleration programmes in the country, Indonesian telecommunications company Indosat also invests in tech startups through events such as ID Byte.

Image Credit: picjumbo.com

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