Indonesia's Kejora reaches first close on second VC fund

The overall target for Kejora Star Capital II is $80 million, a significant step up from the $12 million raised for the firm’s debut fund in 2013. Barito Pacific Group, an Indonesian company primarily involved in heavy industry, invested in Fund I and has re-upped for the second vehicle. The other anchor investor is Germany’s Hubert Burda Media, with additional commitments coming from high net worth individuals.

“So many families in Southeast Asia are now entering this space because they know their core businesses are going to be disrupted by technology. They are preparing themselves for the future,” Sebastian Togelang, founding partner at Kejora, told AVCJ. “You can do everything yourself or invest in a few funds and look to make co-investment in later-stage rounds for the portfolio companies.”

CP Group is organizing a launch event for Kejora in Thailand next month. It is expected to help the VC firm scale up its companies in the country and also offer access to other local investors.

Kejora’s Thailand office will perform a similar function to its bases in Indonesia and the Philippines, which serve as co-working spaces for 700 and 200 people, respectively. “We have 4,000 square meters in Indonesia and we are in the process of merging with another co-working space so it will be 10,000 sqm soon,” said Togelang. “Our office has become a tech ecosystem where everyone meets.”

This ecosystem is also the source of all of the firm’s investments. The Kejora platform was created by Togelang and fellow serial entrepreneur Andy Zain. They launched Fund I as a joint venture with Zurich-based Mountain Partners and then set up an incubator – Ideabox – in conjunction with local telecom provider Indosat Ooredoo.

The incubator has backed 16 companies and 12 more received investment through Fund I. They include: C88 Fintech Group, an operator of financial e-commerce websites in Southeast Asia that has since received funding from Telstra Ventures; Qareer Group Asia, an HR platform now backed by SoftBank; and online marketplace Jualo, which received funding from NSI Ventures, SIG Asia, and Lionrock.

According to Togelang, Kejora’s portfolio has an IRR – all representing unrealized gains – of 200% based on third-party valuations. Fund II is expected to make 16-20 investments in total. Six commitments have already been made, with re-ups in C88, Qareer, delivery platform Etobee, and cloud-based point-of-sale platform Pawoon. Meanwhile, financial technology start-ups Investree and MoneyTable represent new investments.

Kejora targets the Series A and B space but prefers to make its first investment at the pre-Series A stage in order to secure a larger stake in portfolio companies. While the firm sees increasing competition in seed funding rounds – particularly from family offices – there is still a lack of capital for Series A-plus and Series B rounds. It wants to fill this gap.

“Start-ups come to us because we are neutral, we aren’t backed by one LP,” Togelang said. “We can also help them scale in several countries. To be successful in Thailand, a fintech start-up needs to know decision makers at the local banks, and the families in our network know them. As a result, companies can grow faster. Speed is everything because some markets are winner-takes-all, but speed is related to network, not just to money.”

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• Topics
• Southeast Asia
• Venture
• Fundraising
• Technology
• GPs
• Indonesia
• Thailand
• Kejora Ventures
• TMT
• Venture