InnoVen Capital, a debt provider to venture-backed tech companies, today announced a new Southeast Asia-focussed fund: InnoVen SEA Fund.
The fund has completed its first close of US$50 million with InnoVen Capital and will be seeking additional investors to participate in the fund. It will be led by Partners Paul Ong and Ben Cheah. Its launch followed the recent launch of its US$100 million InnoVen Capital India Fund in September.
“The Southeast Asia venture ecosystem is maturing, with a record number of unicorns minted, notable exit activities and significant global investment capital inflows observed this year. We have laid the foundations for a franchise that is synonymous with venture debt in the region, and the new fund will help us deepen our engagement and collaborations, and strengthen our continuity in supporting the region’s technology companies and its talented founders,” said Ong.
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InnoVen Capital is a joint venture between Seviora, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Temasek, and United Overseas Bank. With presence in India, China, and Singapore, it has worked with leading names in the SEA startup ecosystem such as Carsome, Ruangguru, Tiki, Akulaku and eFishery, with cumulative loan disbursements of more than US$180 million.
A typically sector-agnostic fund, InnoVen Capital seeks to work with tech companies that have raised capital from VCs and other institutional investors.
Mainly focussing on Series A and beyond, the firm also looks at seed and Pre-Series A deals selectively. They also provide follow-up loans to existing portfolio companies as it continues to grow.
Cheah said, “Venture debt in Southeast Asia has come a long way from being relatively unknown five years ago to being an integral part of the entrepreneur’s fundraising toolkit. As the Southeast Asian ecosystem continues to mature, we expect the demand for venture debt to increase as more companies take advantage of less dilutive capital to grow even faster.”
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