Weekly digest - May 17 2023
|
17 May 2023
COVER STORY
Grouping markets based on growth and scale is a problematic, but to some extent investors appear to be buying into the South-Southeast Asia story.
|
|
PROFILE
UDAY GARG OF MANDALA CAPITAL
 Uday Garg realised an unlikely career arc from tennis to private equity with the establishment of India’s Mandala Capital. This was guided by a passion for achieving impact in food and agriculture.DEAL FOCUS
ACE TURTLE SAYS SO LONG TO SAAS
 Ace Turtle never wanted to be India’s answer to Amazon, but it has moved from software provider to supply chain coordinator while stepping back from international markets. Investors are not deterred.FUND FOCUS
PATIENCE PAYS OFF FOR MOVAC
 New Zealand VC firm Movac has exceeded expectations with its latest vintage, trading individuals and families for institutions, some of which are entering the asset class for the first time.DEAL FOCUS
INDONESIA FOOD DELIVERY GOES DAILY
 Indonesia’s Uena claims to have penetrated an untapped corner of Indonesia’s booming app-driven food delivery space. Scaling shouldn’t be overly costly, but there are menu-level nuances to consider. |
|
By the Numbers
AVCJ RESEARCH
AN EYE FOR AI
Bessemer Venture Partners is currently deploying a USD 3.8bn global fund and a USD 220m India fund. Presumably, both will play a role in realising the venture capital firm’s ambition to deploy USD 1bn in artificial intelligence (AI) start-ups worldwide.
The AI strategy will take a high-risk, high-reward approach with a focus on cutting-edge technologies. Bessemer described AI as “nearing escape velocity” as it penetrates use-case scenarios such as drug discovery and satellite imagery. “We aren’t interested in faster horses, we want to invent automobiles,” said Talia Goldberg and Samer Dholakia, both partners at Bessemer. “We aren’t funding features or marginal improvement – we are looking for breakthroughs. And the breakouts will be built ground up with AI, by those that are agile, technical, and unencumbered by the status quo.” The firm is tapping into an increasingly established trend in Asia. PE and VC investment in AI-related businesses climbed from about USD 1bn in 2015 to USD 8.4bn in 2021 before moderating to USD 5bn last year, according to AVCJ Research. Progress has been punctuated by a few bumper rounds of USD 500m-plus for Chinese companies like SenseTime, 4Paradigm, Megvii Technology, and Horizon Robotics. Consequently, China accounts for 60% of the USD 35.6bn deployed in the space Asia-wide since 2015. India ranks second with a 19% share, followed by Korea on 11.5%. 
All of the trends featured here were sourced from AVCJ's proprietary database, AVCJ Research, featuring comprehensive information on private equity deals, fundraises and exits.
|
|
For your calendar
UPCOMING EVENTS
|
More on Region
Latest News
Asian GPs slow implementation of ESG policies - survey
Asia-based private equity firms are assigning more dedicated resources to environment, social, and governance (ESG) programmes, but policy changes have slowed in the past 12 months, in part due to concerns raised internally and by LPs, according to a...
Singapore fintech start-up LXA gets $10m seed round
New Enterprise Associates (NEA) has led a USD 10m seed round for Singapore’s LXA, a financial technology start-up launched by a former Asia senior executive at The Blackstone Group.
India's InCred announces $60m round, claims unicorn status
Indian non-bank lender InCred Financial Services said it has received INR 5bn (USD 60m) at a valuation of at least USD 1bn from unnamed investors including “a global private equity fund.”
Insight leads $50m round for Australia's Roller
Insight Partners has led a USD 50m round for Australia’s Roller, a venue management software provider specializing in family fun parks.
Back to Top