Mandiri Capital CEO may move to head BNI’s Venture Capital Firm

Mandiri Capital Indonesia’s (MCI) Chief Executive Officer Eddi Danusaputro has reportedly emerged as a strong candidate to helm the country’s newest state-owned venture capital firm.

The development was first reported by TechInAsia.

A source privy to the matter had told DealStreetAsia earlier this month that Danusaputro is set to lead BNI Modal Ventura, the corporate venture capital arm of state lender Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI), after maxing out his term at MCI.

Before leading the VC arm of Indonesian state-owned lender Bank Mandiri for two consecutive periods since its launch in early 2016, Danusaputro had spent more than eight years at Makara Capital in Singapore as managing director.

Under his leadership, MCI has set its focus on fintech investments that would support its parent company. MCI’s portfolio includes SME-focused SaaS startup Mekari, fintech firm Amartha, state-owned financial services app LinkAja and agritech platform Crowde, among others.

Danusaputro and MCI Chief Investment Officer Dennis Pratistha declined to comment on this story. DealStreetAsia has also reached out to BNI.

Danusaputro, however, had told DealStreetAsia earlier this month that he was aware of such rumours going around but implied that nothing has been signed yet.

BNI Modal Ventura focuses on supporting its parent company’s digital transformation by investing in promising startups that can collaborate with the lender, a BNI executive had told DealStreetAsia earlier, similar to MCI’s focus to date.

BNI recently established its much-anticipated BNI Modal Ventura, which has been injected with an initial 500 billion rupiah capital. BNI financial director Novita Widya Anggraini had said the capital injection will be followed by subsequent capital infusions.

BNI Modal Ventura — along with other CVCs of other state-owned enterprises, including BRI Ventures, Mandiri Capital Indonesia and MDI Ventures — is set to anchor the Merah Putih Fund, which has targeted a corpus of $600 million in three years.

Besides Danusaputro, former MCI director of venture funds Joshua Agusta also recently left the company for Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia and India, where he will lead early-stage investments in Indonesia.