East Ventures opens fund for startups in Southeast
SINGAPORE-based venture capital firm East Ventures said it has started a $27.5 million (Bt971 million) investment fund for early-stage technology startups in Southeast Asia.
on Wednesday.The launch of the fifth East Ventures investment fund to date, and they plan to deploy the capital to further their thematic investment thesis fund comes as the startup ecosystem matures in the market.
East Ventures has backed several prominent Indonesian startups, such as Tokopedia, Traveloka, Kudo and Shopback.
With 80 active portfolio companies in Southeast Asia, East Ventures is one of the most active tech startup investors in Asia. From 2015 to 2016, the firm’s inbound deal leads increased 133 per cent from 331 to 774. It invested in 2.5 per cent of incoming leads in 2016.
Albert Lucius, co-founder of Kudo, attests to East Ventures’ support in scaling up startups and mentioned that “both potential investors and entrepreneurs respect their pro-founder’s philosophy”.
Kudo has been building a platform to address unbanked populations in Indonesia the needs of Indonesians without bank accounts and is working towards bringing them financial inclusion products through its network of 300,000 agents.
According to Singapore state-investment firm Temasek Holdings, Southeast Asia's internet economy is projected to grow more than US$200 billion by 2025.
Financial Services Authority commissioner Firdaus Djaelani has welcomed the fast-growing investment environment that venture capital money has brought to support startup companies in Indonesia but is concerned about the limited market that local venture capital funds could secure.
