FREEWARE The First Free Startup Co-working Space

GRUPARA Inc.’s FREEWARE Startup Co-working space (Based in Jakarta Selatan, Indonesia) is the first free startup co-working space in Indonesia (As far as I concern… and seriously it is free). This might be a surprise for the startup community but we do actually give free with no strings attached (no equity acquisition, no fees at all). Our mission is to help seed-stage entrepreneurs to develop their company by providing a comfortable working space and community establishment. But due to limited space we need to pick which entrepreneurs can join our free co-working space. FREEWARE was made realized by the support of GRUPARA Inc. & Medco Energi who have mission in supporting the technology & entrepreneurship in Indonesia.

Located at MEDCO Ampera building (Jl. Ampera Raya no.20 Cilandak, Jakarta Selatan), our 120 m2 facility consists off 16 free working space, free library, free meeting space (AppleT V compatible), free internet, and free parking space. We are open from Monday till Friday (7 AM -10 PM) and Saturday (7 AM ‘ 1 PM).

We hope that through FREEWARE we can create a bigger eco-system in Indonesia’s startup scene. We don’t limit our entrepreneurship program to technology, we also accept other entrepreneurial entities such as fashion, services, food & beverage, media, and all kinds of SMEs (Small & Medium Enterprises).

FREEWARE will hold sharing sessions among entrepreneurs one or two times a week, and we will provide well know speakers to give lectures 2 to 3 times a month. Hopefully with these sessions entrepreneurs will gain wider knowledge and networking to improve their startup business.

Even though we give free spaces, we do have monthly expenses such as electricity, internet, and building services. We accept donations from everybody (including entrepreneurs) who wants to help us with these expenses. Other than monetary donations, we accept other kinds of donations such as books (business, product development, programming & web, design, and other entrepreneurial books).

GRUPARA Inc. is an Indonesian (Jakarta based) venture capital firm that invests in seed & early stage companies. The firm was founded by Aryo Ariotedjo (which is the Managing Partner), Andrew Mawikere, Bagus Agung Wibowo, Christopher Satriandaru, Irwan Hernawan, J Grace Adoe, Nicky Atmadjaja, and Roestiandi Tsamanov. GRUPARA Inc. is planning to invest on 8 Seed/ Early stage companies in 2013 and also looking for series-A investments.

Medco Energi Internasional Tbk is a publicly traded energy company and one of the largest in Indonesia. Most of their activities are in oil and power industry, founded by Mr. Arifin Panigoro. The FREEWARE program is supported fully by Mr. Hilmi Panigoro (The Chairman of Medco Energi).