MDI Ventures, a corporate venture capital (CVC) arm of telecommunications firm Telkom Indonesia, appointed Donald Wihardja as chief executive last Thursday, KrAsia has reported.
Wihardja came from Convergence Ventures – which merged with Agaeti Ventures last month to form AC Ventures – where he had been a venture partner since 2014.
His new job at MDI will entail Wihardja boosting the connection between the unit and its parent and helping raise capital with multiple independent vehicles.
Founded in 2014, MDI Ventures has $290m under management: the fully deployed $100m initial fund and two multi-corporate vehicles, the $40m Telkomsel Mitra Inovasi and the $150m Centauri Fund.
MDI is currently raising up to $500m for its second CVC fund, transforming itself into a multi-stage vehicle in the process to cover seed to growth-stage deals, investment vice-president Aldi Adrian Hartanto told Global Corporate Venturing in a recent interview.
Hartanto had been overseeing MDI with managing partner Kenneth Li and head of synergy and accelerator Alvin Evander since former CEO Nicko Widjaja left the unit in July 2019 to run another corporate VC fund, BRI Ventures.
Hartanto told KrAsia: “In the next year or so, our goal will remain the same as we want to achieve our vision to be the top multi-stage VC fund in Southeast Asia. Thus, Donald will help us to accelerate our fundraising activities to set up more independent associated funds, while also strengthening our organisation.”
– Photo of Donald Wihardja courtesy of AC Ventures.
