MDI Ventures is the corporate venture capital (CVC) unit set up by telecommunications firm Telkom Indonesia. It is one of the most active corporate venture capital investors in Southeast Asia, having invested in more than 50 startups in 12 countries.
Kenneth Li has worked for the unit since it was set up in 2014 and has been its general manager of investment since the start of 2017. It is based in Jakarta, the Indonesian capital, and also has offices in Singapore and Silicon Valley.
MDI Ventures combines a venture capital model with services in providing companies from Telkom Group with access to operational assistance and help in building startups’ growth engines after making a financial investment.
The unit’s investments centre on high-growth business verticals to enhance digital experience. These include digital advertising, payment solutions, cloud computing, big data, fintech, as well as future communications and internet of things.
Among MDI Ventures’ recent investments are a role in the series B round for Zenius Education, an Indonesian digital learning company, and participation in the $6m seed round for agritech business AgriAku. The unit also took part in the $43m series C raise for fintech platform KoinWorks in January 2022.
Li said: “MDI has been a success story within the Telkom group where we have assisted multiple Telkom’s group subsidiaries in exploring and adjusting to the digital world. Several of our portfolios has been deeply integrated within the Telkom’s group subsidiaries and we believe that MDI is very unique in the CVC space where we are allowed to explored many different segments within the digital ecosystem.”
Li has a bachelor’s degree in finance and financial management services from Universitas Pelita Harapan in Tangerang, Indonesia.
