One of the most active early-stage venture investors in Southeast Asia, 500 Global, announced that he managed to raise funds in the amount of $143 million, which will be used to increase the volume of investments in the mentioned region.
The firm also announced its intention to take advantage of the market collapse, due to which the estimates of many technology companies showed a significant decline.
The amount of funds raised includes a new venture fund, the value of which is $ 100 million. This fund is focused on startups that are currently at an early stage of existence. The investors for the investor were the Malaysian pension fund Kumpulan Wang Persaraan Diperbadankan and the sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional Bhd. Also, part of the money was provided by companies that are part of the 500 Global portfolio.
The result of this fundraising is evidence that some venture capital firms still have opportunities to increase their capital. At the same time, the external environment is currently a space of unfavorable conditions and negative factors of influence, which in no way favor the development and improvement of well-being. At the current historical moment, the problems of the greatest scale are increased inflation, the cost of technology companies demonstrating the dynamic of a consistent decline, and the policy of financial regulators to systematically increase interest rates, which so far has no signs of making decisions about the reverse movement of this financial indicator.
Vishal Harnal, Global Managing Partner of 500 Global, says that the experience of the past years and decades indicates that down cycles are a period of good opportunities for venture capital companies. According to him, such periods are the most favorable for investment activities, especially for those players who can distinguish signal from noise. He also stated that there are currently undervalued assets on the market that should be given more attention.
Through the third and largest 500 Global early-stage fund in Southeast Asia, Vishal Harnal and partner Khailee Ng plan to invest in 100 Series A companies over the next few years. They intend to issue checks in the amount of $250,000 to $500,000 in Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand. Also, these partners, as part of the implementation of the mentioned initiative, plan to pay special attention to such areas as the health system, food security, and digitalization of rural areas.
In 2014, 500 Global launched its first early-stage development fund in Southeast Asia. Currently, this firm manages assets totaling more than $2.4 billion. The venture investor became the first sponsor of companies such as Singapore’s Grab Holdings Ltd., Indonesia’s eFishery, and Malaysia’s Carsome. Over the past nine years, 500 Global has provided support to more than 340 firms in Southeast Asia. More than 190 employees of the company work in more than 25 countries. They have experience in the role of entrepreneurs, operators in the world’s leading technology brands, and investors.
As we have reported earlier, AI Startup Hugging Face Raises $235 Million.
