500 Global raises $143m for Southeast Asia

LPs include a sovereign wealth fund, public and private pension funds, a university endowment, family offices, and larger portfolio companies from the existing 500 Global portfolio in Southeast Asia. Three of Malaysia’s largest institutional investors – Khazanah Nasional, KWAP, and Employees Provident Fund (EPF) – have disclosed their involvement.

500 Global put down roots in Southeast Asia in 2013 under the stewardship of Khailee Ng, a Malaysian-born entrepreneur who originally worked with the firm as a venture partner in North America. He took the lead in raising a debut Southeast Asia fund of USD 25m and was soon joined by Vishal Harnal. They are now two of six managing partners globally and continue to run the regional business.

500 Global has gone on to back more than 340 start-ups in the region with three IPOs to date. A second Southeast Asia fund launched in 2016 and closed on USD 53m. The firm has also raised funds and established accelerators for specific countries.

Earlier this year, 500 Global deepened its bench strength with the recruitment of three new partners for Southeast Asia. Saemin Ahn and Shahril Ibrahim joined from Rakuten Ventures and Khazanah, respectively, while Martin Cu was previously the Philippines country head at logistics start-up Ninja Van.

500 SEA III, which bettered its initial target of USD 75m, will continue 500 Global’s pre-seed to Series A strategy. The goal is to back approximately 100 start-ups across Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore, and Indonesia, writing first cheques of USD 250,000-USD 500,000.

The fund will focus on businesses and artificial intelligence-enabled technologies that advance rural digitalisation, sustainable cities, human and machine productivity, healthcare, food security and financial inclusivity, according to a statement.

500 Global has backed several start-ups that have subsequently achieved unicorn status, including Grab, Bukalapak, Carsome, Carousell, FinAccel, and eFishery. Participation in later-stage rounds – involving investments of USD 5m-USDm – has been selective, largely through special purpose vehicles featuring co-investors. For example, the firm contributed USD 21m to Carousell’s USD 85m Series C in 2018.

The growth vehicle effectively formalises this arrangement. Ahn, Ibrahim, and Cu were recruited specifically to lead regional growth investment activity.

“We have seen our platform produce a pipeline of high-quality growth stage opportunities which we can underwrite with the added diligence of knowing the companies and founders over the
years,” said Harnal. “While we developed our growth stage capability investing over the years, we have also added resources and new partners in line with our aim to support founders from pre-seed to pre-IPO.”

KWAP backed 500 Global’s second Southeast Asia fund and it has re-upped in the latest vehicle. Hazman Hilmi Sallahuddin, the pension fund’s CIO, noted that the firm’s evolution into a multi-stage investment platform has been “instrumental in securing co-investment opportunities for KWAP.”

500 Global has USD 2.4bn in assets under management worldwide. It has backed over 5,000 founders representing more than 2,800 companies in 80-plus countries. At least 160 companies have achieved valuations of USD 100m with 35 crossing the USD 1bn threshold.

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• Topics
• Southeast Asia
• Fundraising
• Venture
• GPs
• Technology
• 500 Startups
• Fundraising
• KWAP
• Khazanah Nasional
• EPF
• Malaysia
• TMT