Indonesia's AC Ventures hires Helen Wong as venture partner
Helen Wong, previously a China and Southeast Asia-focused partner at GGV Ventures and Qiming Venture Partners, has joined Indonesia’s AC Ventures as a senior advisor and venture partner.
The appointment comes two months after AC – an early-stage investor created through the merger of Agaeti Ventures and Convergence Ventures – closed its debut fund on USD 205m, beating a target of USD 80m.
“AC Ventures’ playbook of identifying opportunities in proven digital models with high potential in Indonesia along with working closely with founders will perfectly leverage my experience from China to both identify new investments and support portfolio founders with the learnings and takeaways I’ve gained in the past 20 years,” Wong (pictured) said in a statement.
Wong joined GGV in 2000 as part of the founding team and led coverage of consumer and internet opportunities in China, initially from Silicon Valley and later from Shanghai. She led investments in the likes of online video platform Tudou.
Moving to Qiming in 2014, she was involved in investments in online recruiter Lagou, bike-sharing start-up Mobike, and influencer platform Ruhan. Wong also led Qiming’s entry into Southeast Asia, building up a portfolio that included hotel management and booking platform RedDoorz and consumer finance business Akulaku. She left Qiming in August 2021.
AC is led by Pandu Sjahrir and Michael Soerijadji, also of Agaeti, and Convergence’s Adrian Li. The merger in 2019 was completed with a view to enhancing operational support for portfolio companies and reducing competition for the same type of deals.
The fund is more than 50% deployed across 35 investments. It has backed the likes of logistics provider Shipper, robo-advisory business Stockbit, e-commerce company Ula, fishing industry app Aruna, and micro-business fintech supplier Bukuwarung.
The firm wants to expand its investment and value creation teams this year. Bringing in additional functional experts across human resources, marketing, business development, and capital formation is a priority.
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