East Ventures, a venture capital firm in Indonesia and Southeast Asia, has on Wednesday announced the firm’s first healthcare-focused fund with the amount of $30 million, which is dedicated to supporting innovative healthcare solutions in Indonesia.

With a strong commitment to fostering innovation and improving healthcare access in Indonesia, the “East Ventures Healthcare Fund” aims to empower and support promising Indonesian startups that address the unique challenges and opportunities in the Indonesian healthcare landscape, East Ventures said in a statement.

“Indonesia is one of Southeast Asia’s most dynamic healthcare markets with enormous potential for innovation and growth,

“With our extensive experience in investing across sectors and stages, we believe this healthcare fund will play a pivotal role in fostering and catalyzing healthcare innovation in Indonesia,” said Willson Cuaca, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at East Ventures.

According to him, this fund serves as the firm’s proof of its long-term commitment in this space.

“We are committed to keep collaborating and working with all related stakeholders in forging a healthy and productive Southeast Asia for today, tomorrow, and more generations to come,” he added.

Before the creation of this fund, East Ventures had been active in investing in healthcare startups and companies in the region, making the firm has 30 portfolio companies in healthcare vertical.

It includes recent investments such as Mesh Bio, AMILI, Aevice Health, Etana, etc.

Moreover, while investments in genomics-related ventures were relatively novel in 2018, East Ventures has invested in genomics startups, such as NalaGenetics and Nusantics, which is now leading the genomics-based healthcare revolution in Indonesia and Southeast Asia.

It is noted that during the health crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic, East Ventures has initiated many initiatives to strengthen our healthcare system in Indonesia.

It includes the Indonesia PASTI Bisa (“IDPB”, in English: Indonesia Can Do It) in March 2020.

The IDPB initiative then became the platform to mobilize all the strengths of East Ventures’ digital ecosystem to support the government and private sector’s efforts in mitigating the negative impacts of COVID-19 in the nation.

IDPB has initiated three programs in relation to COVID-19 mitigation: IDPB Test Kit, IDPB Safeguards PPE, and IDPB Safeguards Oxygen.

East Ventures has also taken part in supporting the journey of genomics development in Indonesia.

Started with the donation to the Biomedical & Genome Science Initiative (BGSi), an initiative of Indonesia’s Ministry of Health (Kemenkes) to provide precision medicine services for the community in August 2022 and provide sequencing needs in the form of reagents and consumables worth more than IDR 1 billion.

Moreover, in February 2023, East Ventures launched a white paper “Genomics: Leapfrogging into the Indonesian healthcare future”.

The firm presented this white paper in collaboration with the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Indonesia to provide a comprehensive understanding of how genomics can improve the healthcare system in Indonesia.

Founded in 2009, East Ventures has transformed into a holistic platform that provides multi-stage investment, from seed to growth stage investments, for over 300 tech companies across Southeast Asia.

The firm is an early backer of prominent tech companies in the region, such as Tokopedia, Traveloka, Ruangguru, ShopBack, Waresix, Tech in Asia, Xendit, IDN Media, KoinWorks, Sociolla, Kudo (acquired by Grab), Loket (acquired by Gojek), and MokaPOS (acquired by Gojek).

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