SSEK Partner Fahrul Yusuf Speaks to ALB about Investment and the Indonesian Tech Sector

SSEK partner Fahrul S. Yusuf spoke with Asian Legal Business about venture capital and Indonesia\'s technology sector for an article, \"Unicorn Nation,” that appears in the May 2018 issue of ALB.

Fahrul noted that the rapid growth in Indonesia\'s technology sector, and with it the corresponding surge in the number of technology sector clients, started at the beginning of 2014. \"We do a broad range of work for them, including mergers and acquisitions and the establishment of new companies.”

Fahrul said one of the main challenges for companies in the sector involved getting licenses. \"Many of the startups are focused on the innovative payments sector and the licenses in this particular sector are not the easiest to get,” he said. \"Given this, SSEK and our lawyers working with clients in the tech sector need to be more creative, such as whether we would recommend tapping an existing license held by a third party and whether that would be acceptable to the regulators.”

Fahrul graduated in 2003 from the University of Indonesia Faculty of Law and earned his LL.M. from the University of Chicago in 2010. He has been with SSEK since July 2002 and has been heavily involved in helping clients establish corporations and with foreign investment deals, mergers and acquisitions, and various restructurings.

Fahrul\'s recent transactions include acting as Indonesian counsel for Grab Inc. in the acquisition of Uber\'s business and assets in Indonesia, acting as Indonesian counsel to Didi Chuxing, the market leader for ride-hailing apps in China, in making a substantial investment in Grab Inc., and representing a client in the contemplated investment in a fintech platform with operations in Indonesia.