Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – Telkomsel is again holding a program for early-stage startups, NextDev in 2023. This happens even though the startup world is still hit by tech winter.

Telkomsel’s VP of Corporate Communications & Social Responsibility, Saki H. Bramono, said that at last year’s event, which coincided with the peak of tech winter, there were still hundreds of startups registering. According to him, there is no impact on these startups.

Last year there were 250 early stage startups that registered. There, various kinds of training are provided, including those related to business fundamentals.

“It turns out that after they joined Nextdev and we gave them the Nextdev academy, we gave them training, curriculum, regarding business fundamentals, they really felt it was very helpful,” he said when met at the 9th Nextdev Press Conference, Jakarta, Tuesday (7/11/ 2023).

Tech winter has an impact on providing more selective funding to startups. Nextdev participants received various things to deal with this situation.

“In fact, it turns out that VCs are selective in spending their money, with what we give to startups that participate in Nextdev, they know how to pivot, create new business models and create value creation,” said Saki.

The Nextdev event was held again for the ninth time. The initial agenda starts from Talent Scouting by opening online registration from 7 November 2023 to 20 December 2023.

Next there will also be a roadshow with local startups, alumni, program mentors and inspiring speakers. This was carried out in four cities starting from Yogyakarta (9 November), Makassar (15 November), Palembang (29 November), to Bali (13 December).

Nextdev has four growing tracks, namely Digital Lifestyle, Commerce Enablement, Emerging Technologies, and Digital Food Ecosystem. Next year, the 9 best startups will participate in incubation for three months with mentors from Nextdev Academy.

Held since 2015, Nextdev involves more than 2,500 early stage startups. There are up to 143 alumni, 4 startups have continued acceleration with the Tinc program, 7 startups collaborate with Telkomsel, and 12 startups have received international exposure.

[Gambas:Video CNBC]