中文标题待翻译

MDI Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of Indonesia’s TelkomGroup, is narrowing its Southeast Asia investment focus around enterprise AI, AI infrastructure, governance software, real-world asset tokenisation, institutional custody, and regulated digital asset rails.

The Jakarta-headquartered firm said its updated thesis reflects a shift in the region’s technology cycle. After more than a decade in which consumer internet, e-commerce, ride-hailing, and digital payments defined Southeast Asia’s startup story, MDI believes the next phase will be shaped by the infrastructure and software needed to make AI and digital assets usable at enterprise scale.

That means less focus on broad digitisation as a theme in itself and more on the systems behind it: compute, data governance, cybersecurity, compliance, workflow automation, payment settlement, custody, and tokenisation.

Also Read: Why Singapore, Indonesia, and Vietnam are losing the AI race they think they are winning

For MDI, the strategy is also tied closely to TelkomGroup’s domestic reach. The firm plans to source more companies from Southeast Asia, beginning with Singapore, and help them enter Indonesia through TelkomGroup’s enterprise relationships, digital infrastructure, market channels, and strategic partners.

“Southeast Asia’s next wave of technology growth will be led by companies that solve real infrastructure and enterprise problems,” said Shannon Lee Chaluangco, Investment Director at MDI Ventures Singapore. “Our role is to provide the strongest regional founders with Indonesia’s market scale, TelkomGroup’s network, and the strategic resources needed to build durable companies across AI, blockchain, and digital assets.”

Why Singapore-to-Indonesia matters

The Singapore-Indonesia corridor has long been one of Southeast Asia’s most important startup routes. Singapore offers access to capital, regional headquarters, regulators, multinational customers, and technical talent. Indonesia offers market scale: more than 270 million people, a large enterprise base, and a fast-growing digital economy still unevenly served by modern software.

MDI’s updated thesis sits directly on that bridge. Singapore remains Southeast Asia’s leading AI funding hub, capturing around 57 per cent of the region’s AI funding over the 12 months to June 2025. During that period, 495 AI startups in the city-state raised US$1.31 billion.

For many of these companies, however, regional expansion is difficult. Indonesia is not a plug-and-play market. Enterprise sales cycles can be relationship-driven, regulatory interpretation varies by sector, and localisation often goes beyond language. Founders must understand local data rules, procurement behaviour, payment preferences, and how large incumbents actually buy technology.

Also Read: Indonesia’s AI hiring gap is real, just not 28×

This is where corporate venture capital can be more useful than capital alone. MDI is betting that its link to TelkomGroup can give founders a faster route into live commercial deployments, especially in sectors where trust, distribution, and regulatory familiarity matter.

AI moves from pilots to production

The firm’s timing reflects a wider reallocation of venture capital. In 2025, AI companies accounted for 61 per cent of global venture capital investment, representing US$258.7 billion. In Southeast Asia, more than US$2.3 billion flowed into roughly 680 to 700 active AI startups over the 12 months to June 2025, equal to about 32 per cent of all private funding in the region.

That resilience stands out because the broader funding environment has been much weaker. Southeast Asian private funding fell to a six-year low of US$1.85 billion across 229 deals in the first half of 2025. AI, in other words, has become one of the few categories still able to attract strategic capital at scale.

Indonesia also presents a large deployment opportunity. MDI’s thesis work points to roughly 2,400 AI and deep tech startups in the country, while 92 per cent of knowledge workers already use AI, compared with a global average of 75 per cent. Yet among 336 Indonesian AI companies tracked by the firm, only 66 have raised institutional funding.

That gap suggests a market where usage is running ahead of venture backing. MDI sees opportunities in “Bahasa-first” AI applications, workflow automation, customer engagement tools, data governance, compliance software, and sector-specific AI systems for industries such as telecommunications, finance, logistics, and public services.

The infrastructure layer is just as important. Indonesia’s data centre pipeline is projected to reach around 1,519MW by 2028, while cloud adoption across Southeast Asia is growing at about 20 per cent annually. As companies move from AI experiments to production systems, they will need more than chat interfaces. They will need secure deployment, model monitoring, integration with legacy systems, and clear governance over how data is used.

Digital assets beyond speculation

MDI’s second major focus is blockchain and digital assets, but not in the retail trading sense that dominated the previous crypto cycle. The firm is looking at institutional infrastructure: custody, tokenisation, payments, settlement, compliance, and regulated digital asset services.

The market case is large, though still early. The potential market for tokenised real-world assets is projected to reach US$30.1 trillion within the next decade. More than 70 per cent of Southeast Asia’s internet users now use digital financial services, and digital payment gross transaction value in the region is expected to reach US$359 billion by 2025.

Adoption signals are also strong. Asia accounts for six of the world’s top ten countries in crypto adoption. Indonesia recorded about US$3.1 billion in crypto transaction volume in May 2024, up 506 per cent year-on-year. Vietnam’s annual digital asset transaction volumes exceed US$220 billion, while Singapore has built an ecosystem of more than 300 blockchain companies.

Also Read: SBI buys majority stake in Coinhako to deepen Singapore digital asset push

Still, the next phase will likely depend less on retail enthusiasm and more on whether regulated institutions can safely use blockchain-based rails. Tokenised bonds, fund units, carbon credits, invoices, and other real-world assets require custody, identity checks, settlement processes, and legal clarity. That makes compliance a core product feature, not an afterthought.

“Web3 in Southeast Asia is moving from speculation to infrastructure,” said Alvin Evander, VP of Strategy at MDI Ventures. “As tokenisation, institutional custody and regulated digital asset rails move from pilots into real-world use, the winners will be founders who build for trust and compliance from day one.”

MDI has been raising its profile in this space. It participated as an institutional partner at Indonesia Blockchain Week 2026 in Jakarta and co-hosted “Tokenize Indonesia – Brunch by the Beach” at Coinfest Asia 2026 in Bali, bringing together regulators, financial institutions, and industry players. The firm also plans to meet founders and ecosystem partners at TOKEN2049 Singapore.

The competitive field

MDI is not alone in chasing the region’s next infrastructure cycle. Corporate and strategic investors such as Singtel Innov8, SCB 10X, Krungsri Finnovate, and Vertex Ventures have also backed startups across enterprise software, fintech, AI, and blockchain-linked infrastructure. In Indonesia, firms such as East Ventures, AC Ventures, Alpha JWC Ventures, and BRI Ventures remain active across technology sectors. MDI’s differentiator is its connection to TelkomGroup, but that advantage will matter only if it translates into real contracts, integrations, and distribution for portfolio companies.

Also Read: Four VC executives. Zero personal gain. Three years in prison

For founders, the updated thesis signals where strategic capital may be heading next. Southeast Asia’s startup market no longer rewards growth stories as generously as it did during the zero-interest-rate boom. Investors are asking harder questions about revenue quality, defensibility, regulation, and enterprise adoption.

MDI’s bet is that the next durable companies in the region will not simply digitise existing behaviour. They will build the rails that make AI and digital assets safe, compliant, and commercially useful in large markets such as Indonesia.

The post MDI Ventures sharpens SEA thesis around AI, blockchain, digital asset infra appeared first on e27.