Collaborating with Investors, Pertamina Announces the Winners of Pertamuda Seed and Scale 2024

Surabaya, November 21, 2024 – PT Pertamina (Persero) officially announced the winners of Pertamuda Seed and Scale 2024 during the "Awarding Night" event at Shangri-La Hotel on Wednesday, November 20, 2024. Pertamina also partnered with investors to connect with the young innovators who won the competition.

After rigorous assessment and selection stages, the Pertamuda Seed and Scale 2024 identified the "TOP 3" Energy Founders, which are "SC Battery" from Universitas Sumatera Utara, "Algae Power Indonesia" from Institut Pertanian Bogor, "PV-Cloost" from Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember. Each team received business development funding of IDR 35 million.

Pertamina also recognized the "TOP 3" Early-Stage Start-ups, namely "Blub" from Institut Teknologi Bandung, "PT Meta Seaco Indonesia" from Universitas Gadjah Mada, and "Aitoma Hayago" from Politeknik Elektronika Negeri Surabaya. Each of these teams was awarded business development funding of IDR 100 million.

Rifky Rakhman Yusuf, Vice President of Stakeholder Relations & Management of PT Pertamina, stated that Pertamuda Seed and Scale 2024 adopted the theme "Energizing Tomorrow’s Innovation". This theme reflects not only a slogan but also the strong determination of young innovators, proving that age is no barrier to creating world-class solutions.

“The young generation of Indonesia has demonstrated their readiness to take the baton in leading the sustainable energy industry. Congratulations to the three best participants in each Pertamuda Seed and Scale 2024 category," said Rifky.

He added that this was Pertamuda Seed and Scale’s fourth edition, and participant enthusiasm continues to grow. The competition also provides opportunities for participants to network, meet, and collaborate with investors during the Business Matching sessions.

“We invited several investors to listen and engage directly with the "TOP 30" participants during these sessions, offering a chance to negotiate and form agreements,” Rifky explained.

Pertamina facilitated several agreements during the event, including Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) signing and initial investment commitments. Participating investors included Nicans Marom Capital, collaborating with EcoChop, SC Battery, and Enova; PT Idea Indonesia Akademi Tbk, supporting Wikalpa and Aibeecara & EcoChop; PT Mitratama Global, partnering with Ecokraft; and PT Dredolf, supporting PT Meta Seaco Indonesia. Several individual investors also expressed interest in investing in EcoChop, SC Battery, Bionghum Patalabana, Enova, and Bulb.

Fadjar Djoko Santoso, Vice President of Corporate Communication of Pertamina, emphasized that this competition for students for business ideas aims to expand the implementation of sustainable development goals (SDGs) and foster innovation in the energy sector.

“Pertamina is committed to supporting Indonesian start-ups by providing opportunities to access capital and develop their businesses,” said Fadjar.

One investor, Amyandra Suratman, praised the initiative. "This is my second year participating in Pertamuda. I am excited to see many innovations and start-ups emerging from universities. This program is vital, particularly for corporations like State-Owned Enterprises (SOE),” she remarked.

Meanwhile, one of the participants, Catur Prasetyo, expressed his pride in joining the competition and joy at being among the start-ups to sign an MoU for initial investment commitments with investors.

“During the Business Matching session, we introduced our innovation to investors, who turned out to be highly interested and eager to collaborate further,” said Catur.

Pertamuda (short for Pertamina Muda - Seed & Scale) is a competition organized by Pertamina to identify start-up business ideas from students across various sectors that follow the economic, social, and environmental pillars of the SDGs.

The Pertamuda Seed and Scale 2024 competition received 3,245 applications, an increase from last year’s 2,719 participants. The applicants came from 696 higher education institutions, including 273 public and 423 private universities, spanning 32 provinces in Indonesia.

Pertamina, as a leading company in the energy transition, is committed to supporting the Net Zero Emission 2060 target by continuously promoting programs that directly impact the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) achievement. All these efforts align with Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG) implementation across all Pertamina's business lines and operations.**