This 35-year-old turned a local Indonesian coffee stall into a unicorn startup — today it brings in $100 million a year

Tirtanata grew up in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta.

But he moved to the U.S. in 2007 when he started college at Northeastern University in Boston, where he studied finance and accounting.

While he never enjoyed studying, he had the heart of an entrepreneur from the start.

“When I was a kid, I was definitely naughty — I didn’t really study much,” he told CNBC Make It. “But whenever there is an opportunity to make money or do businesses, I always [got] excited.”

“It’s not about the money — it’s about the pleasure of doing it. It is something that really excites me until today,” he said.

Even as a student, Tirtanata discovered a key business principle: “Buy low, sell high.” He learned to sell Pokémon cards and gaming bots to friends at school for a profit. It was almost instinctive for him.

Inspired by his parents who were also entrepreneurs, Tirtanata always enjoyed the hustle of making his own in the world.

During his freshman year in university, he received a fateful call from his mother, who revealed that his father’s business had encountered some major financial setbacks.

After that call, Tirtanata decided to speed through his five-year program and finished it in three.

He quickly returned to home Indonesia and became his father’s business partner.

“Back then, my days were filled with a lot of stress and uncertainty — but I think this is one of those moments that made me a better entrepreneur,” said Tirtanata. Despite facing these financial difficulties with his family, Tirtanata went on to forge his own entrepreneurial path.

It’s no secret that the coffee business is highly saturated, especially in big metro areas.

Asked what has separated Kopi Kenangan from its competitors, Tirtanata said there are three major reasons: the company’s grab-and-go model, it is a tech-enabled business, and it takes a hyperlocal approach.

“So while Starbucks and other global coffee chains really prioritize consistency, I realized that people have different tastes and preferences,” he told CNBC.

“This is where we really shaped our strategy for our global expansion — we want to make sure that the sweetness and robustness of the coffee really suits the market that we are operating in, using a data-driven approach,” Tirtanata said.

Taking a data-driven hyperlocal approach means that a Kopi Kenangan latte in Singapore will taste different from a latte in Indonesia.

During Covid, Tirtanata and Prananto doubled down on their efforts to integrate technology into their business. This helped Kopi Kenangan more than triple its store count during the pandemic.

As of April, the coffee chain has raised over $230 million in funding from investors across the globe, according to documents seen by CNBC Make It.