East targets $30m for Indonesia healthcare VC fund
East Ventures has launched a dedicated Indonesia healthcare innovation fund with a target of USD 30m.
The VC firm, which is an active investor in healthcare start-ups via its generalist funds, framed the move as an attempt to segregate risk profiles. Initial LP investors are primarily strategic.
It comes within two weeks of East launching a dedicated Southeast Asia-Korea fund with a target of USD 100m in partnership with SV Investment. In May, East announced a first and final close of USD 250m on its latest follow-on fund. The early-stage investor raised USD 550m last year across two funds, including a growth vehicle.
"Indonesia is one of Southeast Asia's most dynamic healthcare markets with enormous potential for innovation and growth. With our extensive experience in investing across sectors and stages, we believe this healthcare fund will play a pivotal role in fostering and catalyzing healthcare innovation in Indonesia. Willson Cuaca, co-founder of East, said in a statement.
“This fund serves as our proof of our long-term commitment in this space. We are committed to keep collaborating and working with all related stakeholders in forging a healthy and productive Southeast Asia for today, tomorrow, and more generations to come.”
The fund will invest across the healthcare start-up spectrum, although East’s historical activity betrays a special interest in biotech-connected segments. Investees include oncology and vaccine products developer Etana, microbe analytics company Amili, microbial diagnostics player Nusantics, and NalaGenetics, a genetic testing specialist that raised USD 12.6m last year.
East has also flagged genomics as a key opportunity set, having conducted a study on the segment earlier this year in partnership with Indonesia’s Ministry of Health. It sees genomics as a means of improving the domestic healthcare system through a focus on prevention over treatment.
During the pandemic, East helped Indonesian hospitals navigate an oxygen supply shortage and mobilized its digital ecosystem to support other initiatives such as the production and distribution of test kits. Nusantics, for example, was involved in designing a test kit by analysing genetic sequences of local strains of COVID-19.
Meanwhile, Etana has used its genetics platform to produce a COVID-19 vaccine that has received emergency use authorisation and halal certification from Indonesian authorities. Last March, the start-up raised USD 8m from German development finance institution DEG.
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