The Venture

Jonathan Sudharta, the co-founder and CEO of Indonesian telemedicine company, Halodoc, is making healthcare more accessible in the world’s fourth-largest country.   When Jonathan started his career as a pharmaceutical sales rep, he spent a lot of time in waiting rooms, watching patients wait—often for hours—just to see a doctor. He recognized an opportunity to address a lack of healthcare access in Indonesia and, in 2016, launched Halodoc, a telehealth app that now connects millions of Indonesians to over 20,000 healthcare professionals, clinics, labs, and pharmacies. Since then, Halodoc has raised $80 million in 2021 and another $100 million in 2023. In this episode of The Venture, Jonathan speaks to McKinsey’s Timothy Yap about Halodoc’s mission-driven culture, how the company reduced patient wait times from hours to minutes, and how it rose to the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.See www.mckinsey.com/privacy-policy for privacy information

Ceyda Yalçın is the innovative leader behind Nays, a revolutionary banking app from Turkey's largest bank, İşbank. She dives into the fierce competition in Turkey's fintech space, sharing how Nays rapidly grew to 3 million users by leveraging gamified features and strategic marketing. Ceyda emphasizes the importance of maintaining a startup culture while scaling operations and reveals her leadership philosophy of blending data-driven decisions with intuitive insights. Her experiences offer valuable lessons in navigating a crowded market and fostering user loyalty.

Dan Vahdat, the founder and CEO of Huma, aims to transform healthcare by leveraging AI and wearable technology. He shares the inspiration behind Huma’s creation, driven by a need for proactive patient care. The conversation highlights how generative AI can revolutionize disease management. Funding challenges are discussed, emphasizing the importance of a long-term vision and collaboration in healthcare. Dan also stresses that success hinges on nurturing genuine relationships within teams, revealing that people are still pivotal in tech-driven healthcare advancements.

A fintech startup is revolutionizing investment services for successful professionals who lack access to elite financial tools. The founders, former Google colleagues, identified a trillion-dollar market gap and launched a digital platform powered by AI. They discuss automating public market investing and offering alternative assets, making wealth management both accessible and appealing. With over $92 million in VC funding, they're poised to expand into Singapore soon, showcasing how technology is reshaping finance for the underserved.

Paul Jenkins, senior partner and global coleader of Leap by McKinsey, shares insights from a recent survey revealing a strong uptick in corporate enthusiasm for new business ventures. Despite economic challenges, over 50% of CEOs are prioritizing these initiatives. Jenkins discusses the growing focus on sustainable and Gen AI businesses, the competitive edge incumbents possess, and the necessity of strategic governance. He also highlights how investors are valuing adjacent ventures significantly higher and the importance of a diversified portfolio approach to business building.

Eric Leong, CEO of Mlion, discusses launching GoListid, an online B2B steel marketplace promoting steel reuse and reducing carbon emissions. They explore disrupting the steel industry through digital solutions, expanding cross borders in Southeast Asia, overcoming challenges, and fostering independence in venture growth.

The founding partner of a Southeast Asian VC fund explains his company’s global ambitions to create economic opportunity, promote sustainability, and reduce carbon emissions. Human activity began altering the climate in the mid-19th century, when the industrial revolution began unleashing unprecedented amounts of carbon into the atmosphere. But an innovative new VC climate tech venture builder is trying to mitigate some of the ensuing catastrophic climate change with a laudable and lofty goal: reducing 10 percent of global carbon emissions by 2035. Wavemaker Impact plans to reach this goal by funding what it calls 100x100 companies, sustainability start-ups able to mitigate 100 megatons of emissions in 10 years while generating $100 million in revenue. Wavemaker Impact founding partner Steve Melhuish sat down with McKinsey’s Tomas Laboutka to discuss the genesis of the venture, why it chose Southeast Asia as the first of 15 global hubs, and why business model innovation is sometimes more important than technological innovation. Comments and opinions expressed by interviewees are their own and do not represent or reflect the opinions, policies, or positions of McKinsey & Company or have its endorsement.See www.mckinsey.com/privacy-policy for privacy information

Cardiovascular disease remains the number one killer in every developed country, but only one in ten US patients with severe heart ailments received treatment in 2022. Egnite, a healthcare start-up, has ambitious plans to dramatically improve treatment of heart disease by harnessing the power of AI and big data to identify patients who fell through the cracks after being diagnosed. Egnite was spun out from Edwards Lifesciences, a California-based medical technology company, in early 2021. Egnite’s digital platform, CardioCare, steadily gained acceptance among clinicians, physicians, and hospitals, as the industry rapidly adopted new technology during the pandemic. Don Bobo, corporate vice president at Edwards, and Joel Portice, president and CEO of egnite, sat down with McKinsey’s Andrew Roth to discuss the CardioCare platform, the relationship between egnite and Edwards, and the lifesaving capabilities of AI and big data. Comments and opinions expressed by interviewees are their own and do not represent or reflect the opinions, policies, or positions of McKinsey & Company or have its endorsement.See www.mckinsey.com/privacy-policy for privacy information

In this episode of The Venture, we share a conversation with Thomas Gros, CEO and cofounder of circulee, a Berlin-based distributor of pre-owned digital hardware. The German start-up provides smaller businesses with a green and cost-effective alternative to new IT devices, offering them professionally tested and warrantied hardware previously leased by large corporates. Gros sat down with McKinsey’s Tomas Laboutka to discuss the central importance of the circular business model, the challenges of pioneering a new business category, and the advantages of being backed by a corporate investor with a ready supply of high-quality, pre-owned devices. Comments and opinions expressed by interviewees are their own and do not represent or reflect the opinions, policies, or positions of McKinsey & Company or have its endorsement.See www.mckinsey.com/privacy-policy for privacy information

In this discussion, Brian Clark, Chief Product Officer of Ascend Bit—a Bangkok startup focused on blockchain innovation—shares insights on transforming loyalty programs through smart contracts. He explains the shift from traditional loyalty points to ownership models, enhancing customer engagement. The conversation also touches on the challenges and potential of Web3, emphasizing how technology can foster community ties and redefine the creator economy, providing artists with better ownership and transparency.