MDI Ventures, the corporate venture-capital arm of Indonesia’s state-owned telecom group Telkom, has revamped its Southeast Asia investment strategy to focus on enterprise AI and digital-asset infrastructure.

In a statement on Tuesday, MDI Ventures said it aims to source startups in Singapore and help them expand into Indonesia through Telkom’s network.

Under the new thesis, the firm will prioritize companies building enterprise AI applications and infrastructure, governance and compliance software, real-world asset tokenization, institutional custody, and regulated digital-asset services. It aims to find startups across the region, starting in Singapore, and give them access to Telkom’s infrastructure, enterprise customers, and distribution to scale in Indonesia.

MDI said Southeast Asia’s next technology cycle would be driven by infrastructure and enterprise software rather than broad consumer apps. It pointed to resilient AI funding and Indonesia’s large but under-funded AI sector as the region features 2,400 AI and deep-tech startups, but few of them are backed by institutional investors.

The second pillar is blockchain and digital assets, as MDI is shifting from retail speculation toward institutional infrastructure such as custody, tokenization, payments, and compliance. It emphasized that tokenised real-world assets could reach tens of trillions of USD over the next decade. MDI also noted the rising crypto usage across Asia, including in Indonesia, Vietnam, and Singapore.

Shannon Lee Chaluangco, an investment director at MDI Ventures in Singapore, said the region’s next growth would come from companies solving infrastructure and enterprise problems, backed by Indonesia’s market scale and Telkom’s network. Alvin Evander, the firm’s strategy vice-president, said digital assets in the region were moving from speculation to infrastructure, favoring founders that build for trust and compliance.

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