Gian Adhitya

“A startup is all about culture, and there is no culture without a team on a mission.”

Backstory

I was born in a small town called Ambon in the Moluccas, a scenic archipelago in the east of Indonesia that’s home to thousands of spice traders and fishermen. My family happened to dabble in both: my grandmother ran a small store and my father worked with oyster farmers. In 1999, a communal war broke out and our family moved out to Java. Moving from a remote town to a big city, I learned to embrace change and insecurity early on. I often relate to the ‘bring it on’ mentality many of our founders have, and the idea of striving to punch above your weight.

My interest in physics led me to study engineering for my undergrad. One day in Oct 2014, I was running experiments in my campus lab when I read the news that Tokopedia, a humble e-commerce upstart in Indonesia, raised a huge investment from global investors – one of them was Sequoia Capital. I was thrilled and exceedingly proud of that milestone. At that moment, I scrapped long standing plans to become an academic and weeks later, took an internship at a tech startup. I fell in love with the hustle and the overall energy in the space.

Before I knew it, I embarked on my second internship with Google and started charting a career path in tech. I learned then that serendipity is real, and keeping an open mind is the key to unlocking new opportunities. It’s an idea that stays with me, to this day. A few years later, I got an opportunity to have a chat with the team at Sequoia Southeast Asia – now Peak XV!

On the lookout for

We work with founders who come from different backgrounds, started up at different stages of life, and have both different blind spots and superpowers. They could be experts with over 20 years of industry experience, and they could be newbies with insatiable curiosity and contrarian thinking. The one thing they have in common is they care a lot about the problem they’re solving and have a relentless drive to make a difference. They set clear vision and direction, and are able to rally their team behind it. I’m always on the lookout for such founders.

One of the most valuable things a VC partner can give a founder is ‘altitude’. Starting up puts a founder in a vast map with many uncharted, hidden territories. I’m always elated if I can help our founders zoom out and see more of the map, make fewer detours, and get to the X mark faster.

Get in touch with Gian

Personal Side

Pop Culture / Gaming / Minimalism / Pun / Javanese Folklore

Current Companies

Aspire

Aspire is the all-in-one finance operating system for growing businesses, helping companies pay, manage, and earn smarter.

Partnered In
2021
Astro

Astro is Indonesia's first and fastest-growing on-demand platform for groceries and essentials.

Partnered In
2022
eFishery

eFishery is the first Aquaculture Technology startup in Asia that develops innovations in the aquaculture field.

Partnered In
2022
Flip

Flip is a fintech-based payment platform in Indonesia that has served more than 7 million users and hundreds of companies and SMEs.

Partnered In
2019
GudangAda

GudangAda is a B2B e-commerce application that connects wholesalers and retailers throughout Indonesia.

Partnered In
2020
Moladin

Moladin is a leading omnichannel used car dealer in Indonesia that empowers agents and micro-dealers by using technology to simplify the transaction process and enable a better customer experience.

Partnered In
2022
Stashaway

StashAway is a digital wealth manager offering investment portfolios and wealth management solutions for retail and accredited investors.

Partnered In
2021
Tazapay

A FinTech platform that enables businesses to seamlessly send and receive cross-border payments.

Partnered In
2020