Silicon Valley-based Scale Asia Ventures raises $30m fund
Scale Asia Ventures (SAV), a Silicon Valley-based investor that aims to bridge the US and Asia start-up ecosystems, has raised USD 30m for its latest early-stage fund.
LPs include a mix of funds, family offices and conglomerates across the US, Korea, Japan, and Singapore. They are expected to help the portfolio network operate between the two regions and support up to USD 100m in follow-on investment.
SAV’s key value proposition is in helping Asian American entrepreneurs access strategic support from Asian corporates including Kakao, Mitsubishi Electric, Toshiba, Samsung, and DBS. “Post pandemic, we envision strong tailwinds for expat founders to build global businesses with distributed teams,” Wally Wang, SAV’s founder, said in a statement.
Wang (pictured) has about 10 years of experience in the software space across the US and Asia. He began his career as a product manager at Microsoft Bing and later built two data platforms that were merged as critical infrastructure into Google’s Wear OS, an operating system for smart wearables. He has also advised family offices and corporations on software investment.
“Wally has been integral towards thought leadership in enterprise software, especially in the AI/ML [artificial intelligence, machine learning] space, and mentoring alumni entrepreneurs with his deep technical experience in operations and global industry insights from the cross-border business community,” added Anindya Ghose, a professor at NYU Stern School of Business, who is also an LP and scientific advisor for SAV.
SAV focuses primarily on software, biotech, and deep tech. Portfolio companies include Quotabook, a Korea-based equity management platform that has received funding from the likes of US-Korea VC firm Strong Ventures and Redbadge Pacific, a Korean investment unit of a US family office.
SAV is also an investor in Genomelink, a US-based DNA data services provider founded by three Japanese entrepreneurs. The start-up, also known as Awakens, has received funding from several Japanese VCs, including Digital Garage, Global Brain, Sony Innovation Fund, and 500 Startups Japan.
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