Singapore-based Quest Ventures has raised USD 50 million to fuel investments in startups across Southeast Asia and in emerging Asian nations. This marks the firm going more than halfway to hit the fundraising target of its Asia Fund II.
Quest Ventures said this is its first institutionally backed fund, with the notable participation of two anchor LPs—Singapore’s Pavilion Capital and the Kazakhstan sovereign wealth fund, QazTech Ventures.
With this new funding, Quest Ventures will specifically seek out portfolio companies that are in the post-seed and Series A stages, while expanding its footprint in fast-growing Southeast Asian countries such as Vietnam, Indonesia, Myanmar, and the Philippines. It will also launch an accelerator in Kazakhstan to jump-start the region’s digital economy.
“We are encouraged that numerous C-suites and Asian family businesses have joined us as investors for both financial and business transformation returns in an increasingly complex and turbulent business world,” said Jeffrey Seah, a partner at Quest Ventures, in a media statement.
Speaking to KrASIA, Seah said startups should not hibernate during the COVID-19 crisis. He emphasized that this could be a good time for direct-to-customer and SaaS businesses to raise funds.
“The founders’ mettle will be severely tested, so will the dexterity and fortitude of their investors. Whether these startup businesses have been built on investment trends or actual customer benefit, the market will now do the due diligence on their business—in real time,” Seah added.
Founded in 2011, Quest Ventures has a track record of being an early investor of startups that have become households names, including Carousell, Shopback, 99.c0, and Carro. Last year, Carousell merged with 701Search to cement its dominant position in the Southeast Asian online classifieds market, taking the company’s valuation to more than USD 850 million. In March, Shopback notched USD 75 million in an extended fundraising round.