KKR appoints Asia technology investment head
Lucian Schöenefelder has been appointed head of technology investments in Asia. He previously performed a similar role for the firm in Europe.
The move comes as KKR prepares to launch a growth-stage technology fund focused on Asia, expanding a strategy that is already operational in North America, Europe, and Israel. Plans for the new vehicle were revealed during a quarterly earnings call last October.
KKR closed its debut Next Generation Technology Growth Fund, which doesn't cover Asia, in 2016 with $711 million in commitments. A successor vehicle reached a first close of $1.8 billion in the third quarter. The technology, media, and telecom (TMT) team takes minority and majority positions in high-growth private businesses. It also invests selectively in public companies.
The firm has made growth equity investments in technology start-ups through its pan-Asian funds. The portfolio features Indonesian ride-hailing player Go-Jek as well as several Chinese companies, among them news aggregation and short video platform ByteDance Technology, used car trading player Uxin Group, online-to-offline services business 58 Daojia, and education platform Huohua.
Schöenefelder, who is now listed as based in Hong Kong, joined KKR from J.P. Morgan in 2007. He has participated in deals across Europe and Israel, including Ivalua, Trainline, Arago, Clicktale and Optimal+. KKR also recruited Karen Zhang, formerly head of China internet and technology investments at General Atlantic, to its Asia TMT team.
The firm is also in the market with its fourth flagship pan-Asian fund, which has a target of $12.5 billion.
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