Openspace raises $200m for third Southeast Asia VC fund

Commitments came from the likes of sovereign wealth funds, pension funds, university endowments, and insurance companies. Investors in previous vehicles that re-upped for the latest vintage include Temasek Holdings, StepStone Group, and Sofina. AVCJ understands that San Diego City Employees Retirement System (SDCERS) and Duke University, both LPs since Fund I, also returned for Fund III.

Marketing for the new vehicle began in February 2020 and a first close of around $90 million came at the end of June. Re-ups accounted for 80% of the capital. However, Openspace was already expecting the LP base to be more diversified than Fund II. Among the new investors are European development finance institutions DEG and Norfund, US-based fund-of-funds 57 Stars, and Japan's Mizuho Financial Group. 

At the time of the first close, it was noted that COVID-19 had slowed progress, but LPs were becoming increasingly comfortable leveraging technology solutions to conduct certain due diligence efforts remotely. Meanwhile, Openspace didn't allow the pandemic to slow its pace of investment.

"The team and all the portfolio founders worked tirelessly through the unprecedented crisis of 2020 and it showed. We executed two successful full exits last year and made four investments out of Fund III in Indonesia and Thailand in the midst of the pandemic," said Hian Goh, co-founder and a partner at the firm (pictured, right, with fellow co-founder and partner Shane Chesson), in a statement.

Openspace has positions in 33 companies, touching on technology-enabled businesses in financial services, agriculture, education, healthcare and energy, as well as logistics and software-as-a-service (SaaS). It has led Series A rounds for the likes of Gojek, TaniGroup, and Halodoc in Indonesia, Finnomena in Thailand, Kumu in the Philippines, and Biofourmis in Singapore.

Existing portfolio companies secured $2 billion in 2020, taking total follow-on capital raised to $6.5 billion to date. Much of this has gone to Gojek, which has emerged as a regional ride-hailing and online-to-offline services giant. The company is looking to raise $2 billion for its latest round. Openspace has already partially exited its investment in Gojek.

Chesson noted that 2021 is poised to be a strong year for Openspace and for the Southeast Asia start-up ecosystem. "Companies are scaling faster than ever and reaching key milestones on the path to liquidity or exit," he said.

Established in 2014, the firm raised $89 million for its debut fund the following year and closed a second vehicle at $135 million in 2018. The team now comprises 25 people, representing 12 nationalities. In addition to the Singapore headquarters, there are offices in Bangkok, Jakarta, and Manila, with a fifth soon to open in Ho Chi Minh City.

Openspace claims to differentiate itself by prioritizing start-ups and categories that have not attracted substantial VC investment and then offering substantial in-house operational support, including data-driven market analysis. Last year, it added OSV+, a growth-stage fund that will primarily participate in follow-on rounds for companies in the early-stage vehicles.

"The Southeast Asian startup ecosystem continues to evolve and is now producing a high volume of attractive mid-stage investment opportunities," said Jessica Huang Pouleur, who joined Openspace in 2020 as an executive director to lead OSV+.

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• Topics
• Southeast Asia
• Fundraising
• Venture
• Technology
• GPs
• Singapore
• Openspace Ventures
• TMT