The Next Unicorn May Skip Silicon Valley

JAKARTA – Jakartaweekly.com. Silicon Valley may no longer have a monopoly on building billion-dollar startups. As governments across Asia, Europe, and emerging markets redesign their economies to attract entrepreneurs, talent, and investment, the next unicorn could emerge not from California, but from ecosystems deliberately built to make innovation easier.

Indonesia has already demonstrated that world-class technology companies can be created outside Silicon Valley. The country entered the 2020s with a wave of unicorns including Gojek, Tokopedia, Traveloka, Bukalapak, and later logistics giant J&T Express, proving that billion-dollar startups could thrive by solving local market challenges. During the pandemic years, another generation of startups—including fintech firms Xendit, DANA, Akulaku, investment platform Ajaib, and coffee chain Kopi Kenangan—either reached or were widely reported to have achieved unicorn valuations, highlighting the growing maturity of Indonesia’s digital economy.

Although the pace of new unicorn creation has slowed in recent years, Indonesia’s startup ecosystem has shifted from rapid expansion toward stronger business fundamentals, consolidation, and sector diversification. Public databases and industry reports continue to list only a handful of Indonesian unicorns by early 2025, suggesting that the country’s next phase of innovation will depend less on producing unicorns at scale and more on building sustainable ecosystems that support long-term growth.

That evolution mirrors a broader global trend, according to entrepreneur and investor Elisabeth Kurniawan, who believes countries are beginning to compete for founders in much the same way startups compete for customers.

Speaking to Jakarta Weekly, Kurniawan said the next billion-dollar startup may emerge from places many global investors have barely begun to notice—not because they offer cheaper costs, but because they have created better environments for entrepreneurs.

“Countries are beginning to compete the same way startups do,” Kurniawan said. “Governments are no longer just trying to attract investment. They’re designing ecosystems that make it easier for founders to build companies.”

Her observation reflects a significant shift taking place across the global startup landscape. Rather than concentrating innovation within a handful of established technology hubs, governments are increasingly investing in startup-friendly regulations, research institutions, talent mobility, digital infrastructure, and venture capital ecosystems to attract entrepreneurs.

Global data suggests the transformation is already underway. More than 1,600 privately held startups valued at over US$1 billion are now spread across the United States, China, Europe, India, Israel, and Southeast Asia, with major innovation clusters emerging in cities such as New York, London, Bangalore, Singapore, and Shenzhen. Industry analysts have also pointed to a growing decentralization of venture capital as investors increasingly back startups in emerging markets rather than concentrating funding within Silicon Valley.

Several industry forecasts project that by 2028, more than 60 percent of newly created unicorns could emerge from outside traditional technology hubs, reflecting a structural shift in where innovation is being built. Under that scenario, the next global unicorn could just as easily be founded in Bangalore, Shenzhen—or even Surabaya—as in Palo Alto.

Removing Friction Instead of Selling Incentives

Kurniawan said her perspective was shaped after attending a diplomatic forum hosted by the Embassy of Cyprus. While she initially expected discussions around investment incentives and startup visas, she instead encountered a broader strategy centered on reducing friction for entrepreneurs.

Rather than promoting itself primarily as a Mediterranean destination, Cyprus positioned itself as an innovation platform by highlighting startup visas, executive relocation programs, research funding, artificial intelligence initiatives, university partnerships, and seamless access to the European market.

“They weren’t saying, ‘Come because we’re beautiful,'” Kurniawan said. “They were saying, ‘Come because we’ve removed the barriers that make building a company difficult.'”

For her, that represents a new model of global competition.

“The countries that succeed won’t necessarily be those with the biggest economies. They’ll be the ones with the best operating systems for founders.”

Innovation Is About More Than Technology

While many entrepreneurs remain focused on product-market fit, Kurniawan believes another factor often determines whether startups succeed: operational friction.

Every delayed permit, unclear regulation, talent shortage, or funding gap consumes time, capital, and energy that could otherwise be directed toward innovation.

“Administrative energy is one of the hidden costs of entrepreneurship,” she said. “Every unnecessary obstacle becomes a tax on innovation.”

She argues that governments seeking to build competitive startup ecosystems should prioritize making entrepreneurship easier through streamlined regulations, better talent development, stronger university-industry collaboration, and improved access to capital.

Artificial intelligence, she added, illustrates this principle well.

During the Cyprus discussions, AI was framed not simply as a technology trend but as an enabler of broader capabilities, including smarter public services, higher productivity, stronger governance, workforce development, and long-term competitiveness.

“Technology changes every year,” Kurniawan said. “Capabilities compound.”

Instead of chasing every new technological breakthrough, founders should focus on the enduring capabilities those technologies create.

Great Ecosystems Create Great Companies

According to Kurniawan, startup success is too often portrayed as the achievement of visionary founders alone.

In reality, sustainable innovation depends on collaboration between universities, research institutions, investors, corporations, governments, and entrepreneurs working within the same ecosystem.

“Great founders matter,” she said. “Great ecosystems multiply great founders.”

She noted that the strongest startup ecosystems also recognize that entrepreneurs require different forms of support as they scale—from idea validation and seed funding to commercialization, international expansion, and industrial production.

“The operating system that helps you survive isn’t always the one that helps you scale.”

Indonesia’s Next Challenge

For Indonesia, which has emerged as Southeast Asia’s largest digital economy, Kurniawan believes the next challenge extends beyond creating another unicorn.

The country’s long-term competitiveness, she argues, will depend on its ability to build an ecosystem where founders can access talent, research, financing, government support, and international markets without unnecessary bureaucracy or institutional friction.

That means strengthening collaboration between universities and industry, improving regulatory certainty, accelerating digital public services, expanding research commercialization, and creating policies that encourage entrepreneurs to build globally competitive companies from Indonesia.

“Products can be copied. Strategies evolve. Technology changes,” Kurniawan said. “What compounds over time is the ecosystem surrounding innovation.”

As governments increasingly compete to attract founders, researchers, investment, and technology, she believes entrepreneurs should rethink one fundamental question.

“Don’t just ask, ‘What should I build?'” she said. “Ask, ‘What kind of ecosystem am I building around it?'”

In an increasingly decentralized innovation economy, the race to produce the next generation of unicorns may no longer belong exclusively to Silicon Valley. Instead, it could be won by the countries—and cities—that make building great companies feel inevitable.