Asia Partners closes debut SE Asia fund at $384m

The fund was launched in February 2019 and reached a first close of $78 million within four months. A second close came in early 2020, bringing commitments to about $118 million.

LPs include institutional investors, family offices, corporations, and high net worth individuals across six continents, as well as development finance institutions such as Germany’s DEG and US-based DFC. About 7% of the capital was provided by the GP’s co-founders and advisory board.

Asia Partners was set up in 2019 by six co-founders, who have invested or led a combined 24 companies. These include Nick Nash, who was head of Southeast Asia at General Atlantic until 2014 when he joined Singapore’s Garena, a consumer internet platform that highlighted growing global confidence in the ASEAN start-up market with a $989 million US IPO in 2017 under the name Sea.

“Southeast Asia is an increasingly strategic region for global investors, driven both by rising affluence and by the increasing digitization of daily life,” said Hsieh Fu Hua, a former CEO of Singapore Exchange, who now serves as chair of Asia Partners’ advisory board as well as chairman of the Grab-SingTel digital bank. “Almost every sector of our economies has the potential to be transformed by technology.”

The plan is to target a perceived Series C and D funding gap, joining rounds of $20-100 million in size with a focus on consumer internet models targeting middle-class markets. About $90 million has been deployed to date across three investments, including Malaysian used car platform Carsome and Singaporean hotel booking service RedDoorz. Earlier this year, the fund led a $35 million round for Singapore-based education technology start-up Snapask.

Asia Partners attempts to differentiate itself in the fast-growing Southeast Asian VC ecosystem by emphasizing its cultural sensibilities; the firm claims its six co-founders represent six global and regional nationalities. Differentiation has become a higher priority for Southeast Asian VCs as global LPs warm to the region’s start-up investment thesis and new funds compete for their attention.

Southeast Asian VCs launching funds in recent years include EV Growth – a joint venture between East Ventures, Sinar Mas Digital Ventures, and YJ Capital – which closed its debut at $200 million in 2019. Golden Gate Ventures closed its third fund at $100 million in 2018 and raised $80 million for a consumer vehicle in 2019. Jungle Ventures closed its third fund in 2019 at $240 million, and Monk's Hill Ventures closed its second fund in March last year at $100 million.

More recently, the Southeast Asia division of US impact private equity firm SEAF has reached a first close of $16 million for a women’s economic empowerment fund. Meanwhile, MDI Ventures, the corporate VC arm of state-controlled Telkom Indonesia, has teamed up with financial technology investor Finch Capital to form a $40 million fund targeting early-stage investments across the region.

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• Topics
• Southeast Asia
• Fundraising
• Venture
• Technology
• Singapore
• Asia Partners
• International Development Finance Corporation (DFC)
• German Investment and Development (DEG)