# Irwan Tjahaja

> Irwan Tjahaja is the Jakarta-based co-founder and CEO of Swap Energi, an Indonesian battery-swapping network for electric motorcycles. His background spans phone accessories, battery manufacturing and shared power banks; he co-founded Laidian before establishing Swap in 2019. Swap launched the Smoot motorcycle brand in 2021 and later partnered with Grab and PLN, with a $22 million Series A reported in January 2024.

- **Role:** Co-founder & CEO at Swap Energi
- **Organizations:** PT Swap Energi Indonesia, PT Smoot Motor Indonesia, Laidian, ReCharge
- **Nationality:** Indonesian
- **Education:** UNSW
- **Known for:** Co-founded Swap Energi in 2019 after experience in battery manufacturing and shared power banks., Led Swap during its $22 million Series A, reported in January 2024., Swap won a World Summit Award for Environment & Green Energy in the 2022 award cycle.

## Career timeline

- **2001** — Went to China to conduct business, initially exporting mobile phones to Indonesia.
- **2014** — Co-founded shared power-bank business Laidian and handled hardware manufacturing.
- **2019** — Left Laidian and established Swap in Indonesia.
- **2021** — Swap launched its Smoot electric motorcycle brand.
- **2022** — Swap and Smoot collaborated with Grab and PLN; Swap announced a pre-Series A round led by Kejora-SBI Orbit.
- **2023** — Swap closed its Series A in December, according to a New Energy Nexus funding factsheet.
- **2025** — An industrial-design publication named him as the designer of an electric motorcycle submitted by PT Smoot Motor Indonesia; Swap joined an October Rider Gate fleet cooperation agreement.

## Achievements

- Co-founded Swap Energi in 2019 after experience in battery manufacturing and shared power banks.
- Led Swap during its $22 million Series A, reported in January 2024.
- Swap won a World Summit Award for Environment & Green Energy in the 2022 award cycle.
- Named as designer in an Indonesian industrial-design publication for an electric motorcycle submitted by PT Smoot Motor Indonesia.

## Latest updates

- **2025-11** — A Ramssol announcement dated November 10 disclosed an October 24 cooperation agreement between Rider Gate Indonesia, Smoot and Swap for a Grab motorcycle rental project, naming Irwan Tjahaja as Swap’s director.
- **2025-02** — An Indonesian industrial-design publication dated February 10 named him as designer of an electric motorcycle submitted by PT Smoot Motor Indonesia.
- **2024-08** — Discussed his battery-manufacturing career, offline swapping, customer service and expansion approach in an interview republished by Qiming Venture Partners.
- **2024-04** — Discussed his career highlight, advice and personal preferences in BackScoop’s Ice Breakers interview.

## Links

- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/irwan-tjahaja-680a6a20a/

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/irwan-tjahaja
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-11