East Ventures closes follow-on fund at $250m

The vehicle, known as Growth Plus, is noteworthy for cementing the historically early-stage investor’s commitment to more mature start-ups. It follows the raising of USD 550m across two funds in May last year, including a USD 400m growth fund.

East has now raised three growth funds. It first expanded into later stages in 2018 via a joint venture with Sinar Mas Digital Ventures (SMDV) and Japan’s YJ Capital, now known as Z Venture Capital (ZVC).

The entity, EV Growth, closed its first fund on USD 250m in 2019, beating an initial target of USD 150m with support from SoftBank Group, the owner of ZVC parent Z Holdings. The co-GP structure of EV Growth was dissolved last year, with East assuming full control and absorbing much of the staff.

The latest fund will invest from early to growth stages. “East Ventures' multi-assets class strategy underscores its commitment to supporting tech companies at various stages of their development,” the firm said in a statement.

East was founded as a Japan-Southeast Asia concept in 2009, quickly setting up a base in Jakarta and focusing strongly on Indonesia. It has invested more than 300 start-ups in Southeast Asia to date, mostly in Indonesia.

The firm claims that 60% of its investees that have graduated to growth stages had either positive EBITDA or a clear path to positive EBITDA. More than 40% of this group were said to have runway beyond 2025.

Target sectors cover education and healthcare technology, e-commerce, logistics, retail, and financial technology, including blockchain. Standout portfolio companies have included Traveloka, Tokopedia, Grab, and Gojek. In most cases, East was one of the first investors in these companies.

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• Topics
• Southeast Asia
• Fundraising
• Venture
• Technology
• Indonesia
• East Ventures
• seed
• Growth capital