Kejora Ventures opens office in Bangkok
Kejora Ventures, one of Southeast Asia’s most active private venture-capital firms, on Monday announced the opening of an office in Bangkok, adding to its presence in Indonesia – where it is headquartered – the Philippines and Singapore.
The Bangkok office will strengthen Kejora Ventures’ goal of helping entrepreneurs succeed in the technology arena by expanding their access to strategic partners and investors in Southeast Asia.
Thailand, the second-largest economy in Southeast Asia after Indonesia, is well-placed to take advantage of a global digital wave transforming economies and societies.
The Thai government is supporting the start-up ecosystem with a Bt20-billion venture fund that it announced last year. Half of the amount will go towards technology start-ups.
“We see a lot of potential in the tech start-up scene in Thailand and want to be at the forefront of supporting corporate innovation in the country,” said Sebastian Togelang, founding partner of Kejora Ventures. “Thailand is a natural extension of our vision of setting up a tech community that will work together to share our knowledge.”
“In the year 2017 there will be more consolidations happening. It is time for the leading companies and corporates in Asean countries to join forces and together support building regional leaders in the tech sector. With our strong network in Southeast Asia and its robust economy, we want to help make it happen,” he added.
Kejora Ventures’ Bangkok office launch was inaugurated by Chatchaval Jiaravanon, advisory committee member of Kejora Ventures and board member of True Corp, and Togelang, and attended by over 100 regional investors.
The venture-capital firm recently announced it has raised about one-third of the target fund size of US$80 million (Bt2.78 billion) at the first close of the Kejora Star Capital II Fund, drawing strong strategic investors such as the Barito Pacific Group, the Charoen Pokphand family and Hubert Burda Media.
The Kejora Star Capital II Fund has already invested in six high-growth start-ups: C88Fintech Group, Qareer Group Asia, Etobee, Investree, Pawoon and MoneyTable.
Founded in 2014, Kejora Ventures has one of the largest technology ecosystems in Southeast Asia.
Kejora Ventures’ Fund I is currently performing at a 200-per-cent internal rate of return.
The company has more than 29 investments in its portfolio.
