Patamar Capital, the Silicon Valley venture capital firm, is in the midst of its second fundraising round, aiming to assemble USD 150 million by the end of 2020. Even though the COVID-19 pandemic is slowing down the process, it has already bagged USD 60 million as of March 23.
“We are still looking for foreign limited partners. Once we get a commitment, we will be able to invest because, partially, we already have available sums,” said Patamar Capital partner Dondi Hananto, as quoted by Daily Social.
The funds will be used for investments in Series A startup companies in Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam, and India. Right now, the firm is approaching two startups in Indonesia and will close a deal in Vietnam.
For 2020, Patamar has a new investment strategy for the Indonesian market. The firm is eyeing opportunities in online lending as well as small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) enablers. There are five fintech sub-sectors that they will focus on: payments, remittance, P2P lending, insurance, and investments. Hananto admitted that expansions in the payments sub-sector will be challenging, as new players have to compete with market leaders such as Gojek’s GoPay and Lippo’s Ovo.
As for SMEs, Hanato sees opportunities in Indonesia’s largely untapped small-scale sellers. “There are approximately 58 million [SMEs]; 90% of them are categorized as micro, with IDR 200 million (USD 12,300) revenue per year. We want to help them do business easily. Later, we will connect them to financial services, such as POS [point of sale] systems or B2B commerce,” he said.
Patamar Capital started investing in the Asian startup ecosystem in 2014. Its first fund of USD 45 million has been fully deployed, with a portfolio of 20 startups in four countries. These companies include Indonesian e-commerce platform Sayurbox and student-focused fintech lender Dana Cita.