Asia Partners raises $70m for SE Asia growth deals - update

The target for Asia Partners I, which launched in February, has not been disclosed, though AVCJ understands the vehicle has reached a first close. The firm will make two to three investments per year, focusing on companies that have successfully raised Series A or B funding and are seeking further capital for pan-regional or global growth, with check sizes falling between $20-100 million.

Asia Partners plans to focus on companies building consumer internet business models directed at Southeast Asia's middle class, a sector that has seen steady growth due to the region's rising per capita income, mobile penetration, and early-stage venture capital activity. The firm expects a healthy deal flow of start-ups that can benefit from local network effects to outperform global competitors.

“Southeast Asia is like a time machine,” said Oliver Rippel, a co-founder of Asia Partners and former CEO of B2C e-commerce investments for South African internet conglomerate Naspers. “Because we’re about 11 years behind China in affluence, we can learn from what worked well there, in terms of how consumer needs and business models evolved, and then adapt them to the very unique nuances of Southeast Asia, which make this region so hard for outsiders.”

Nash, who was head of Southeast Asia at General Atlantic before joining Sea (then called Garena) in 2014, founded Asia Partners earlier this year along with Rippel. Additional co-founders include former Sea executive Vorapol Supanusonti, along with Pitra Ciputra Harun and Kien Nguyen, formerly of Indonesia’s Bukalapak and Vietnam’s Vinamilk, respectively.

Asia Partners is one of several Southeast Asia-focused GPs that have launched growth-stage funds in recent years, seeking to address a perceived shortage of capital in this space. Regional peers include EV Growth - a joint venture between East Ventures, Sinar Mas Digital Ventures, and YJ Capital - which recently closed its debut fund at $200 million. Golden Gate Ventures and Jungle Ventures are raising capital for similar strategies.

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• Topics
• Southeast Asia
• Venture
• Growth
• Fundraising
• Singapore
• Growth capital