Openspace closes SE Asia growth fund on $200m - update

Jessica Huang Pouleur, who was recruited to lead the growth strategy in 2020 and became a partner last year, confirmed the size and timing of the final close. The fund – known as OSV+ - primarily participates in follow-on rounds for existing portfolio companies, entering at the Series C and D stages, while Openspace’s core venture vehicle concentrates on Series A and B rounds.

There have been six investments to date: remote patient monitoring business Biofourmis; Indonesian mobile healthcare start-up Halodoc; FinAccel, operator Indonesian buy now, pay later platform Kredivo; Philippines live-streaming business Kumu; and food and beverage start-up Jiwa Group; and Indonesian micro-savings and micro-investment app Pluang.

Jiwa is the only company that doesn’t feature in Openspace’s early-stage funds.

Capital has been reserved for re-ups in several businesses already represented in OSV+ and it will be deployed on the achievement of certain performance milestones.

Pouleur added in a LinkedIn post that a re-up in Biofourmis’ Series D is pending. The start-up closed a USD 100m Series C in September 2020 with SoftBank Vision Fund taking the lead. Only FinAccel has neared a liquidity event. It agreed to merge with a US-listed special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) last August but abandoned the deal earlier this year.

OSV+ achieved a first close of USD 120m in August 2021, with LPs in Openspace’s VC funds account for 75% of the corpus. They included the US Development Finance Corporation, an Australian superannuation fund, a European insurer, and family offices from around the world.

Openspace closed its third venture capital fund on USD 200m in March 2021, up from USD 135m in the previous vintage. Shane Chesson, a co-founder and partner at the firm, previously told AVCJ that the firm preferred to raise separate venture and growth funds – rather than bundle everything into an ever-larger single vehicle – because the risk profiles are different.

There have been situations in the past where an inability to participate in mid-stage rounds resulted in paper gains foregone. They include the Biofourmis Series C, where Openspace was only able to take a small part of its pro-rata allocation because OSV+ wasn’t up and running.

The fund adheres to strict qualification criteria. Companies must have pre-money valuations of at least USD 150m and annualized revenue of at least USD 15m. Market-leading positions, strong product-market fit, established senior management teams, and clear growth trajectories are also key characteristics.

In addition, priority is given to start-ups that have demonstrated how they can become profitable or have positive unit economics.

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• Topics
• Southeast Asia
• Fundraising
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• Openspace Ventures
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