SEA VC funds accumulate $1.3b in additional assets

Singapore and dominated the VC fundraising market.

Southeast Asia - focused (VC) funds garnered $1.3b in additional dry powder in Q1, according to a research report by DealStreetAsia.

The amount of capital committed for interim and final fund closes fell 47% QoQ over the same period. This is said to end a year-long streak of QoQ growth as final closes stagnated.

Singapore and Indonesia dominated the VC $500m Fund VI. fundraising market with total fund closings of $865m and $161m, respectively. Meanwhile, no Despite the slower pace of capital raising in closes were recorded by VC funds based in the first quarter, Southeast Asia-focused VCs , Thailand, and Cambodia. have $8.21b (US$5.8b) of committed capital, based on venture funds that reached a final The top three Singaporean VC firms in terms of close in the last four quarters capital raised in the first quarter were B Capital ($600m), Vickers Venture Partners ($200m), and On the other hand, capital-raising outlook for Credence Partners ($50m), whilst BRI Ventures the region’s venture funds is expected to ($136m), OCBC Ventura NISP ($15m), and Indogen worsen in the coming months, as most of the Capital ($10m) raised funds in Indonesia. capital committed by investors to VCs in Q1 was solicited before the region began to Funds run by VC firms headquartered in the tighten social distancing measures and region contributed 77% of the total amount raised, impose travel restrictions in April. with the rest coming from foreign VCs investing in Southeast Asian countries. Andi Haswidi, head of ASEAN market research at DealStreetAsia, believes that fundraising Beyond fund closings, 53 VC firms are currently will be more challenging in Q2 and onwards in the market to raise $8.4b for Southeast Asia- as investors’ risk appetites have shrunk. focused funds, of which about 30% have been “Fund managers are also careful about secured. The largest funds in the market are deploying their dry powder, which could Vanda Global Capital’s $1.5b Agritech fund, B weigh on tech startup valuations despite Capital’s $750m Fund II, and Vickers Venture’s investors’ loaded war chests,” he added.

Source: Singapore Business Review