East, Vulcan lead $15m Series A for Singapore's Qapita

East Ventures and Vulcan Capital led the round, with participation from US-based NYCA Partners and existing investors such as MassMutual Ventures and Endiya Partners. East committed capital from its $250 million growth fund that was previously managed as a joint venture with Indonesia’s Sinar Mas Digital Ventures and Japan’s YJ Capital.

A string of existing angel investors – from Qapita’s $2.25 million seed round in 2020 and its $5 million pre-Series A in April 2021 – also re-upped. They included Alto Partners, K3 Ventures, Mission Holdings, partners from Northstar Group, and Anjali Bansal and Sujeet Kumar, founders of Avaana Capital and Udaan, respectively.

Qapita was established in 2019 by Vamsee Mohan, Ravi Ravulaparthi, and Lakshman Gupta (pictured, left to right), who have backgrounds in investment banking, corporate venture capital, and technology. The business model emerged from a recognition that Southeast Asia and India’s start-up populations and the amount of venture capital available were growing, while finance was becoming increasingly digitized.

The Series A funding will go towards an expansion of Qapita’s product suite to serve investors, shareholders, and employees, as well as start-ups. There are also plans for a digital marketplace through which investors and employee stakeholders can engage in secondary transactions, widening the pool of liquidity options.

Qapita has grown from seven to 65 people over the past 12 months. They are based in Singapore and India. Headcount is expected to increase in both locations, as well as in Indonesia.

The company estimates the value of private securities in these geographies will reach $1-1.5 trillion in the next few years, while the number of unicorns will surpass 200. It argues that scalable digital solutions are critical for the start-up ecosystem to thrive.

“We are in some of the fastest-growing private markets in the world. It is an incredible time to build an operating system and transaction rails for private company ownership in this region. This is about leveraging tech to enhance transparency, access, efficiency and liquidity in private markets,” Ravulaparthi, who serves as Qapita’s CEO, said in a statement.

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• Topics
• Southeast Asia
• Financials
• Technology
• Early-stage
• Singapore
• East Ventures
• Vulcan Capital
• MassMutual Ventures
• Endiya Partners