Cathay closes second innovation fund $789m
Cathay Capital has raised EUR650 million ($789 million) for its second innovation fund, which supports start-ups in China, Europe, and North America.
Cathay Innovation Fund II reached a first close of EUR320 million in mid-2019. By May of last year - when Cathay announced a EUR800 million final close on its second middle-market fund - the EUR500 million target had been reached.
The firm raised EUR287 million for its first innovation fund in 2015. The vehicle is said to have achieved a DPI (distributions to paid-in) of 2x and an IRR above 80%. In Asia, it has backed the likes of e-commerce platform Pinduoduo, autonomous driving developer Momenta, and software-as-a-service (SaaS) provider IfChange.
Existing investors account for 90% of commitments to Fund II. They include Bpifrance, automotive supplier Valeo, BNP Paribas, Groupe ADP and Michelin. Among the new investors are Mubadala Investment, L'Oreal, Pernod Ricard, Unilever, Accor, BioMérieux, Sanofi, JCDecaux, Axa, Natixis and the family offices of Decathlon and Auchan.
Fund II was selected Tibi committee, which brings together French institutional investors committed to awarding EUR6 billion in technology mandates to asset managers across listed and unlisted equities. Managers must be based in France. The committee is named after the academic whose report identified a lack of growth equity financing for French technology companies and made suggestions as to how the problem could be addressed.
The innovation fund team has nearly 60 employees across offices in Paris, San Francisco, Shanghai, Munich, Singapore, and Israel. It focuses on digital innovation, healthcare, retail, and corporate services.
"Cathay has built a cross-border investment platform in the past 15 years. At the same time, it has formed a benign atmosphere of mutual trust and cooperation between investors and invested companies. We will continue to use Cathay's diverse cross-border resources connecting and interacting with the core innovation ecosystems of Asia, Europe and the US, creating extraordinary value," said Mingpo Cai, Cathay's founder and chairman.
The private equity firm specializes in cross-border investments with a focus on North America, Asia, Europe, and Africa. It manages more than EUR3.5 billion across 12 funds, including eight PE vehicles and four VC vehicles. Within the venture capital strategy, there are two renminbi-denominated funds - one for automobiles and one for smart energy.
More on Greater China
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.