Singapore, July 15, 2020 — Wavemaker Partners has closed its third Southeast Asia (SEA) fund at $111M, exceeding its initial target of $100M.
New investor Concentric Equity Partners will join existing institutional backers including Pavilion Capital, Temasek, International Finance Corporation (IFC), and Vulcan Capital.
Wavemaker Partners’ $66M SEA Fund 2 was already the largest early-stage fund focused on enterprise and deep tech start-ups in SEA. Since 2012, the firm has invested in over 130 startups. Over 100 (86%) of them are enterprise-focused with over 40 (32%) of these in deep tech and artificial intelligence.
Through the years, the firm has managed to assemble a solid, diversified portfolio that spans geographies, industries and technologies. Companies that raised recent funding rounds include construction site management software company Novade, B2B FMCG marketplace GudangAda and laser communications startup Transcelestial.
The firm has consistently delivered results with six exits in the last two years delivering a combined enterprise value of over $400M. The announced exits include Indonesian mobile point-of-sale system Moka (acquired by Gojek), cloud communications software company Wavecell (acquired by 8×8) and regional payments solutions provider Red Dot Payment (acquired by PayU/Naspers).
The COVID-19 pandemic has helped to further strengthen the firm’s conviction that startups that serve businesses (B2B) represent a tremendous yet underserved and undervalued investment opportunity. Companies across the board are being forced to reassess their strategies, tactics, financing and operations. Needless to say, technology is one of the key resources that companies can use to help them get through this crisis and startups that serve them well will be rewarded.
This new fund thus furthers Wavemaker Partners’ commitment and leadership in the space. “We’re grateful to be able to achieve our fund target despite the tough economic environment. We’re hopeful that our focus on investing in enterprise and deep tech startup teams that solve meaningful problems with superior, differentiated offerings and robust unit economics will pay off in the long term,” said Managing Partner Paul Santos.
About Wavemaker Partners
Wavemaker Partners is Southeast Asia’s go-to early-stage venture capital firm investing in enterprise and deep tech companies.
