Kominfo Optimistic to See 3 More Unicorns Despite Pandemic

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Communication and Information Technology (Kominfo) Ministry shared optimism that Indonesia will have three new unicorns as targeted despite the weakening economy caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“That (target) can still be achieved,” said the ministry’s Director-General for Applications and Informatics, Semuel A Pangerapan, in a webinar of Katadata Forum regarding the pandemic impact on digital economy actors on Thursday, July 9, 2020.

Previously, the ministry set a target to have three new unicorns by 2024.

Semuel assessed that as the economy starts to move after the pandemic, the focus would be on the digital economy. “We are optimistic that the economy is moving again and we will develop. The digital sector is the right solution to enter the next economic development,” he added.

The three new unicorns, Semuel predicted would come from the financial, education, and agriculture sectors. On the occasion, he mentioned that several startups have achieved valuations of unicorn status, yet they did not make the announcement.

Based on the research conducted by a media, data, and online research firm, Katadata, towards 139 startups throughout May-June, 48.9 percent of the startups claimed they could survive more than one year after the pandemic, with an assumption that the pandemic occurred in March 2020.

Read: Startups Starting to Suffer from the Global Pandemic

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