Jakarta / Bali, June 2026 — There is a particular kind of clarity that comes from failure. In 2014, two young entrepreneurs rented a modest shophouse in Kelapa Gading, North Jakarta, and opened a fried rice stall they called Kedai Opa. Three months later, it was gone — out of customers, out of momentum, and out of runway. What happened next would define Indonesian nightlife, reshape the country's entertainment landscape, and, ultimately, transform the way the world's most discerning investors think about Bali real estate.
Those two young men were Ivan Tanjaya and Eka Setia Wijaya. And the company they built from the rubble of that first failure is now valued at approximately $300 million.
The Education of a Builder
Ivan Tanjaya, Co-Founder of Holywings, was born in Central Sulawesi in 1989, studied Business Administration and Management in Beijing, and accumulated international business experience that would prove foundational to everything he later built. Fortune IDN
Beijing was not just an academic chapter. While still a student, Ivan had already launched several ventures — acting as a housing agent for incoming international students, selling Instax Polaroid cameras online through a business he called Polid House, and later establishing a freight and logistics company. Each of these experiments taught him something different about market dynamics, customer behavior, and the art of pivoting. Bisnis.com
But it was the city's nightlife that left the deepest impression. In Beijing, Ivan observed how bars combining live music with affordable pricing attracted enormous, loyal crowds — a concept he would eventually carry home to Indonesia and build an empire around. Fortune IDN
Back in Jakarta, he found a partner in Eka Setia Wijaya — a fellow entrepreneur who shared both his appetite for risk and his instinct for experience-driven business. Their first attempt, as history records, was Kedai Opa. The fried rice stall lasted three months before declining foot traffic and stagnant revenue forced them to shut it down and reconsider everything. DetikFinance
Most founders stop there. These two accelerated.
Building the Brand That Defined a Generation
After the failure of Kedai Opa, Ivan and Eka pivoted to a restaurant format built around live music. The name Holywings was inspired by the popular Indonesian steakhouse chain Holycow — a nod, perhaps, to the kind of cultural currency they hoped to build. Wikipedia
To scale the concept, they brought in additional partners — Jacky Lee, Marvin Saputra, and Kevin Tanjaya — and formalized the business under PT Aneka Bintang Gading. The formula was deliberate: chicken wings, cold beer, affordable pricing, and live music that kept tables turning well past midnight. It was not sophisticated by the standards of global hospitality. But it was precisely what Indonesia's urban youth had been waiting for. Inilah
Holywings grew fast. Then it grew faster. Outlets spread from Jakarta to Surabaya, Bandung, Bali, and beyond. Ivan Tanjaya and Eka Setia Wijaya were eventually recognized in Fortune Indonesia's 40 Under 40 list for their impact on the country's entertainment and lifestyle sector. Inilah
Within the ownership structure of PT Aneka Bintang Gading, Ivan holds the largest stake — 132 shares out of a total of 500 — and serves as President Commissioner of the company. High-profile public figures including lawyer Hotman Paris Hutapea and entertainer Nikita Mirzani later joined as shareholders, further elevating the brand's public profile. Ivan also separately serves as CEO of Atlas Beach Fest Bali, widely recognized as one of the world's largest beach clubs. InilahViva
The road was not without turbulence. In 2022, Holywings became the center of a national controversy after a promotional campaign was deemed offensive to religious sensibilities. The backlash was swift and severe. But the group navigated the crisis, restructured where necessary, and continued to expand — a testament to the resilience of its underlying business model and the loyalty it had cultivated across its customer base.
The Pivot That No One Saw Coming
By 2025, Holywings Group had firmly established itself as the dominant force in Indonesia's entertainment and lifestyle industry. The logical next move — at least to outside observers — might have been more clubs, more beach venues, more cities. Instead, Ivan Tanjaya and Eka Setia Wijaya made a decision that surprised even seasoned industry watchers: they entered real estate.
Holywings Group introduced Holywings Collection, a property and hospitality development arm designed to translate the group's lifestyle sensibility into the residential space — delivering living experiences that are refined, exclusive, and defined by strong architectural character. Bisnis.com
The strategic logic is clear in retrospect. A brand that has spent a decade curating the way people spend their nights is uniquely positioned to curate the way they live. The leap from entertainment to luxury residential is not a departure — it is an extension.
The group's management articulated the vision plainly: "We see Bali as a global destination that demands a more curated and character-driven approach to property development. Through Holywings Collection, we want to deliver refined, exclusive living experiences with a limited number of units, so that every project carries a strong identity and integrates meaningfully with its surroundings." Warta Ekonomi
Djelantik House and Aruna Ungasan: Architecture as Identity
Holywings Collection's debut consists of two projects — both in Bali, both deliberately limited in scale, and both designed to signal that this is not a developer playing it safe.
For the architectural execution, the group partnered with KantorGG, a firm known for its contextual design approach that integrates nature, architecture, and spatial narrative. Wide apertures, internal courtyards, natural materials, and infinity pools create a seamless transition between interior space and exterior landscape. Bisnis.com
Djelantik House presents four premium villa units in a prestigious Bali location, combining modern architecture with natural textures and refined Balinese character. Each unit is oriented to capture surrounding panoramas and deliver a deeply personal living experience — positioned as a private sanctuary that prioritizes spatial quality and long-term comfort. Sultra Media
Aruna Ungasan takes a more dramatic setting. Located in Ungasan, within the Pandawa–Uluwatu corridor of South Bali, the development sits on elevated, contoured land with open ocean views and consists of only eight villas. Proximity to the beach and Bali's premier lifestyle destinations is balanced against a deliberately quiet, private atmosphere. Sultra Media
The architectural partner, KantorGG — operating under Gunawan x Gunawan — brings more than 200 completed projects across Singapore, Dubai, Japan, and Australia, with work frequently featured in Tatler Homes and Indonesia Design. Jualrumahdibali
With a combined total of just 12 units across both projects, Holywings Collection positions itself firmly in the premium residential segment. These are not investment vehicles dressed as homes — they are designed as long-term living spaces, built around the integrity of the experience rather than the velocity of a sale. Warta Ekonomi
The Bigger Play: IPO, Global Expansion, and What Comes Next
The move into real estate is one component of a much larger ambition. Holywings Group, now valued at approximately $300 million, has set its sights on international expansion — with Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, and Seoul identified as priority markets — while simultaneously laying the groundwork for an Initial Public Offering. Ketik
As part of its international rollout, the group plans to open a nightclub with a capacity of 1,000 guests in Bangkok — a venue that would rank among the largest in Thailand. For a company that began in a shuttered fried rice stall, the ambition is staggering in the best possible way. Prolegal
Real estate, in this context, does more than diversify revenue. It anchors the brand in permanence. An entertainment group can close an outlet. A property developer leaves something behind. Holywings Collection is, in many ways, Holywings Group's most durable statement of intent.
What the Market Is Watching
The Bali luxury property market has never been more competitive — or more scrutinized. In the post-pandemic era, investor interest has shifted away from saturated areas like Canggu and Seminyak, where density ratios now exceed 1,300 people per square kilometer, toward quieter coastal enclaves that still offer both prestige and privacy. Ungasan sits precisely at that intersection. Investproperti
For Holywings Collection, the strategic advantage lies not in the land itself but in the brand equity behind it. When buyers purchase a unit in Djelantik House or Aruna Ungasan, they are not simply acquiring square footage in Bali. They are buying into a curated worldview — one built over twelve years of understanding what Indonesia's most aspirational consumers actually want.
That is a competitive moat that no conventional property developer can easily replicate.
A Decade in the Making
There is a version of this story that focuses on the numbers: the $300 million valuation, the 12 exclusive villas, the pending IPO, the planned club in Bangkok. Those numbers matter.
But the more instructive version begins in a shophouse in Kelapa Gading, where two young men failed at selling fried rice and decided, instead, to build something the country had never quite seen before.
Ivan Tanjaya is widely regarded today as one of the most influential young entrepreneurs in Indonesia's entertainment industry — a designation that would have seemed improbable in those first three months of silence at Kedai Opa. His partner, Eka Setia Wijaya, has built equal credibility as the operational backbone of one of Southeast Asia's most recognizable hospitality brands. Ketik
Together, they have demonstrated something that business schools teach but rarely produce: the capacity to fail fast, learn faster, and build with genuine conviction.
Holywings Collection is not the end of that story. By every indication, it is simply the next chapter.
