Willson Cuaca, Managing Partner of East Ventures
East Ventures (EV), an active early-stage tech investment firm based in Indonesia, has announced that it aims to raise “no more than US$88 million” for a new seed fund to support innovative startups in Southeast Asia.
This is EV’s eighth investment vehicle to date and announced the first close without divulging further details.
The firm said in a statement that the latest fund under is intentionally kept under US$100 million as this makes it easier to deploy money into early-stage companies.
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The sector-agnostic fund is designed for digital companies emerging in the post-lockdown aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.
As the world has slowed down in the time of the virus attack, businesses in the region continue to struggle and lives have been changed forever. Local entrepreneurs are forced to rethink how they operate, understand what is truly essential, and learn how to live with less physical contact.
As a result, many are now accelerating to the point where they’re leap-frogging into digital transformation and bypassing years of the usual adoption process.
EV’s management team believes new global conditions have provided unprecedented clarity for startup decision-makers.
“The pandemic has created a chance for a new breed of entrepreneurs to think about new problems and how to solve them in efficient ways via technology,” said Managing Partner Willson Cuaca.
“We remain optimistic about the future of Southeast Asia’s digital economy, and we’re particularly bullish on the Indonesian market. We feel the current situation proves our core hypothesis that great founders will find a way to make their companies thrive, even in times of crisis. Great people withstand the test of time,” he added.
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Founded in 2009, EV has supported more than 170 companies in the region that are present across Indonesia, Singapore, Japan, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam.
EV is also an early investor in Indonesian unicorns Tokopedia and Traveloka. Other notable companies in the portfolio include Mercari, Ruangguru, Warung Pintar, Fore Coffee, Kudo (acquired by Grab), Loket (acquired by gojek), TechInAsia, Xendit, IDN Media, MokaPOS, ShopBack, CoHive, Koinworks, Waresix, and Sociolla.
Two days ago, BRI Ventures, another Indonesian VC firm, announced the launch of an independent venture fund, called Sembrani Nusantara, to help local tech startups survive and grow amid COVID-19.
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Image Credit: East Ventures
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