BSD City, 6 January 2023 – Living Lab Ventures (LLV) continues to receive appreciation from international digital institutions. This time, the appreciation was given by Microsoft through the Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub program. Microsoft, as a technology solutions provider, presents technology support, both from Microsoft and its partners, for startups under LLV. LLV is a Sinar Mas Land corporate venture that provides funds to incubate and accelerate potential global-minded digital entrepreneurs in Indonesia by employing an open sector-agnostic approach to reach a more comprehensive investment network.
Microsoft’s support for the development of LLV startups is provided through one of its newest programs, the Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub. The program provides startups with access to more than USD 300,000 worth of benefits – including technology and tools from Microsoft and partners – that each startup can use for up to four years, as well as the resources they need to get their business up and running. This new digital platform also provides various supports, such as technology and mentoring, that startups need to achieve their next milestone. To optimize the acceptance rate of LLV startups in this program, a number of experts from Microsoft Indonesia are ready to assist startups in meeting the required conditions during the registration process.
In this program, LLV startups can access a wide range of sophisticated applications, from trusted, secure, and open-source friendly cloud platforms, to the best productivity tools for developers, such as GitHub Enterprise, Engineer Visual Studio Enterprise, Power Platform, Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365, to access leading technologies such as OpenAI, which is revolutionizing the Natural Language System with the capabilities of the GPT-3 model. As training material, startups will also have access to Microsoft Learn (now available in Indonesian) to build various developer skills such as DevOps Engineer, Data Engineer, Data Scientist, Solution Architect, to Security Engineer.
Sinar Mas Land’s Chief Transformation Officer – Mulyawan Gani, said, “This project is made possible thanks to Microsoft’s full support and trust in LLV. The collaboration between LLV and Microsoft has continued since we visited the Microsoft Tech Center in Silicon Valley in July 2022. We hope that this technological support can strengthen Sinar Mas Land’s digital ecosystem while at the same time accelerating the growth of Indonesia’s digital economy. LLV will continue to support local startups to unlock their potential to become game-changers by integrating their innovations and technological solutions into people’s daily lives, especially in BSD City.”
Microsoft Indonesia’s Chief Technology Officer for Digital Natives and Startups – Makka Kesuma, said, “Startups are a segment that plays a critical role for Indonesia’s economic growth; providing not only employment opportunities, but also encouraging innovation, creativity, and competitiveness which are Indonesia’s strengths. For this reason, we welcome collaboration with LLV in empowering more startups in Indonesia. We hope this collaboration will support the growth of Indonesian startups and contribute to the development of Indonesia’s digital economy. Let’s work together to empower Indonesia.”
Living Lab Venture Partner – Bayu Seto explained, “The joining of LLV in the Microsoft ecosystem will make it easier for startups to gain networking opportunities, technical skills, and funding. In addition, using the Microsoft platform to present new technologies can add value to our stakeholders. This is certainly very useful for startups of LLV, where we incubate many new technology-based projects and innovations for smart cities in BSD City. Hopefully, this support from Microsoft can also accelerate our startups to take off and grow independently.”
To date, LLV has empowered several startups that focus on three main technological aspects: Smart Technologies, Digital Life, and Mobility. Smart Technologies is an aspect that focuses on innovative technologies that support intelligent urban life. This technology is closely related to aspects of Digital Life, which focus on e-commerce and social networking technology that impact people’s lives. Lastly, Mobility focuses on innovative technology in the movement of people and goods within cities.
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