BRI Ventures (BVI), the corporate venture capital arm of the Indonesian state-owned lender Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI), said it has reported a strong performance from its Sembrani Nusantara venture fund since its launch in January 2021.
“This will benefit our investors through dividend distribution with a yield of approximately 12-14%,” M.Khaidir, the fund manager of Dana Ventura Sembrani Nusantara, told reporters on Tuesday.
BRI Ventures CEO Nicko Widjaja added that amid the ongoing tech winter, several of the fund’s portfolio companies managed to generate a net profit for shareholders.
The firm will continue to focus on investments in the direct-to-consumer sector. It is particularly bullish on fashion including Moslem fashion, beauty, as well as food and beverage segments.
“New retail sector is increasingly attractive, and this is in line with global trends. New retail business targets consumers directly without any third party, so they can earn more margins and data, and therefore are able to grow businesses well,” said Markus Rahardja, Chief Investment Officer of BRI Ventures during the media event.
The widespread use of social media like TikTok and Instagram, coupled with growing Gen Z is expected to further boost the popularity of local D2C brands, he added.
BRI Ventures said that Sembrani Nusantara is Indonesia’s first venture fund, which is licensed and supervised by the OJK, managing capital from several other investors outside the BRI Group.
The fund received investments from Celebes Capital, Grab Holding, Fazz Financial Group, Investree, and Pandu Sjahrir. It has invested in several consumer brands including beverage chain Haus! And local shoe brand Brodo.
Last November, DealStreetAsia reported that BRI Ventures has secured the first close of its Sembrani Kiqani fund in June 2022, and it planned to fully close the vehicle by end-2022. Asked about the development of the latter, Widjaja said that the fundraising for the second fund is still ongoing.
“Our fundraising strategy is a bit different [from other VC funds], we are fundraising by invitation only, and we also have to go through a long KYC process,” he said, adding that fundraising for Sembrani Kiqani [Sembrani Fund 2] is still open until the end of next year.
