Silicon Valley angels end first SE Asia tour in Indonesia
The Geeks on a Plane (GOAP) tour organized by Silicon Valley-based accelerator 500 Startups reaches its final leg in Indonesia this week. This is the first time one of the trips has focused specifically on Southeast Asia.
For the past nine days a group of 67 angel investors, executives and entrepreneurs have visited Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand to learn about the region's nascent technology markets and meet potential investees.
Among the travelers are: Dave McClure, founding partner of 500 Startups; Vinnie Lauria, founding partner with GoldenGate Ventures; Edgar Hardless, CEO of Singtel Innov8; and Batara Eto, managing partner with East Ventures as well as representatives from internet giants Google and PayPal.
This is the seventh GOAP trip to Asia. An East Asia tour was held every year between and 2009 and 2011 with an additional trip to Tokyo in 2009. Two tours of India also took place in 2011 and in March this year. There have be 12 tours in all, others have headed to the Middle East, South America and Europe.
"With around 600 million plus people, a moderate but fast growing internet penetration, rapidly rising GDP and a young market, there are a lot of good metrics for making investments into the region that will pay off," 500 Startups' McClure told AVCJ, explaining the rationale for visiting Southeast Asia.
The tour has coincided with the launch of 500 Startups' latest Southeast Asia-focused micro fund, 500 Durians. The $10 million vehicle will make initial investments of $50,000-100,000 in tech start-ups. Malaysia-based entrepreneur Khailee Ng has joined as a venture partner to oversee the region.
Previous region-specific funds launched by 500 Startups have been given names like 500 Luchadores (Mexico) and 500 StartupWallah (India).
"The idea is to have a main US global fund and then to have smaller regional vehicles - that allows us to be more aggressive in seeking out investments in particular areas and invest at an earlier stage. Then, if things are working out, we will follow up with an investment from the global fund," added McClure.
500 Startups currently has around $70 million in assets under management, 75% of which is in the US. Previous Asian investments made from the global fund include Tokyo and Singapore-based Asian interactive media platform provider Cinemacraft and the recently backed Australian start-up Canva.
More on Southeast Asia
Latest News
Asian GPs slow implementation of ESG policies - survey
Asia-based private equity firms are assigning more dedicated resources to environment, social, and governance (ESG) programmes, but policy changes have slowed in the past 12 months, in part due to concerns raised internally and by LPs, according to a...
Singapore fintech start-up LXA gets $10m seed round
New Enterprise Associates (NEA) has led a USD 10m seed round for Singapore’s LXA, a financial technology start-up launched by a former Asia senior executive at The Blackstone Group.
India's InCred announces $60m round, claims unicorn status
Indian non-bank lender InCred Financial Services said it has received INR 5bn (USD 60m) at a valuation of at least USD 1bn from unnamed investors including “a global private equity fund.”
Insight leads $50m round for Australia's Roller
Insight Partners has led a USD 50m round for Australia’s Roller, a venue management software provider specializing in family fun parks.