Dymon reaches $20m first close on VC fund

LPs in the fund include Thailand-based Siam Commercial Bank (SCB), which committed an undisclosed amount via its financial technology subsidiary Digital Ventures. The fund expects to reach a final close within the next 12 months, executives from Dymon told TechCrunch.

Dymon Asia Ventures was founded in 2015 and launched its fund, Dymon Asia Ventures I, last year with a target of S$50 million ($35 million). The vehicle will focus on fintech companies in Southeast Asia and plans to invest in 12-15 start-ups from seed to Series B stage. So far Dymon has invested in five companies, including blockchain developer Otonomos and foreign exchange trading platform Spark Systems.

The firm’s foray into venture capital comes several years after the launch of its private equity offshoot, Dymon Asia Private Equity (DAPE), in 2012. DAPE’s debut fund closed at S$300 million in 2014 with a mandate to support Southeast Asian companies in the midmarket space left unaddressed when existing GPs such as Baring Private Equity Asia and Navis Capital Partners scaled up their fund sizes to $1 billion or more.

Investments by DAPE include the buyout of Singapore-based catering company Select Group. The firm committed S$48.7 million alongside the Select management team to buy out the company’s other shareholders and delist it from the Singapore Stock Exchange.

• Tweet  
• Facebook  
• LinkedIn  
• Google plus  
• Save this article  
• Send to  

• Topics
• Southeast Asia
• Fundraising
• GPs
• Venture
• Singapore
• Technology