Singapore-based venture capital firm EV Growth has closed its first fund at USD 250 million, exceeding the firm’s initial target of USD 150 million.
New limited partners including several Asian family offices and two sovereign wealth funds, including Temasek, participated in the round, according to a statement.
Launched in 2018, EV Growth is a joint venture between East Ventures, SMDV, and Yahoo Japan Capital. The industry-agnostic fund focuses on providing growth capital to startups in Indonesia and the rest of Southeast Asia, with an aim to bridge the gap in VC growth funding.
EV Growth claims that it has invested in more than 20 portfolio companies to date. Most recently, it participated in Indonesian startup Ruangguru’s USD 150 million Series C funding round, which is said to be one of the largest rounds for an edtech company in the region.
According to the statement, 80% of EV Growth’s portfolio companies are Indonesian. The fund’s overall internal rate of return stands at 36%.
“We plan to deploy USD 325 million for Southeast Asian startups, combining active funds size, for both seed and growth stage,” said Willson Cuaca, managing partner of EV Growth and co-founder of East Ventures. “The inflection point in Southeast Asia is now and we are lucky to be here early,” he added.
According to a report, startups in the region raised USD 8.6 billion during the first seven months of 2019. The market is also attracting Chinese funds, with a tech giant Alibaba’s Ant Financial reportedly planning to raise about USD 1 billion to back startups in Southeast Asia and India.
This article first appeared on Tech in Asia.