Jungle reaches $175m first close on SE Asia VC fund

LPs contributing to the first close of Jungle Ventures III include the International Finance Corporation (IFC), Singapore’s Temasek Holdings, DEG, and Cisco Investments, AVCJ understands. The fund will make Series A and B investments across sectors including consumer internet, financial technology, and B2B digitization services for small and medium-sized enterprises.

Jungle launched the fund last year with a target of $150 million, but raised the goal to $200 million in December due to strong investor interest. The firm’s previous vehicle closed in 2016 at $100 million, with commitments from LPs including IFC, Temasek, and Singapore’s National Research Foundation (NRF).

With protectionist sentiment growing in large markets like the US, China, and India, Jungle believes corporate players and LPs will increasingly see Southeast Asia as an opportunity for healthy growth without the burden of nationalist agendas. The firm has already made five investments from the new fund, including its first commitment in Vietnam.

While Southeast Asia is the firm’s primary market, Jungle also invests in companies outside the region where it believes it can help with expansion into Southeast Asia or globally. Examples include Indian home design portal Livspace and UK-based artificial intelligence developer Engineer.ai.

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• Topics
• Southeast Asia
• Venture
• Fundraising
• GPs
• Technology
• Singapore
• Jungle Ventures
• IFC
• Temasek Holdings
• TMT