The university has signed up Grab Ventures Velocity, part of ride hailing service Grab, to its new UI Works startup accelerator.

University of Indonesia has added Grab Ventures Velocity, the Indonesia-focused corporate venturing unit of ride hailing service Grab, as a strategic partner for its new UI Works accelerator, KrAsia reported on Thursday. The initiative, for which a launch date could not be ascertained, is also being backed by Indonesia-based co-working space operator Code Margonda. UI Works will be administered over three phases – a pre-accelerator stage, main accelerator and demonstration day. Experts will mentor the portfolio companies as they prepare to pitch their businesses for assessment by potential investors including Grab Ventures Velocity. The program is open to startups that have already created a prototype or beta-stage model of their products. Separately, Grab Ventures Velocity is also partnering University of Indonesia to offer graduates of the university’s technical courses internships at Grab’s offices in Jakarta and Singapore. The move is part of the corporate’s efforts to engage Indonesian talent to drive advances in technology, entrepreneurship and mobile payments. In total, Grab Ventures Velocity expects to invest IDR3 trillion ($207m) in Indonesia-based startups over the next three years. Grab is already actively collaborating with academic institutions elsewhere in southeast Asia. These partnerships include the AI Lab research hub set up by Grab and National University of Singapore in July 2018.

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