London-based Hedosophia, the secretive venture capital firm helmed by British “SPAC King” Ian Osborne, has made its largest bet in Southeast Asia by investing $45 million in Indonesia’s crypto exchange platform Pintu.
Hedosophia was the lead investor in Pintu’s $113 million Series B round announced earlier this week. Other investors in the round included Intudo Ventures, Lightspeed, Northstar Group and Pantera Capital.
DealStreetAsia was the first to report Hedosophia’s role in Pintu’s latest funding round.
The VC firm previously invested in Indonesia’s Lummo, formerly known as BukuKas, where it injected $30 million as part of a $50 million Series B round. Hedosophia’s other Southeast Asian portfolio companies include Indonesia’s digital identity network VIDA and Singapore’s Osome.
Hedosophia’s Southeast Asia investments so far
Separately this week, NextBillion.ai, a Singapore-based company that offers tailored spatial solutions and tools for a wide range of applications, has issued new shares to accommodate a $2 million investment from Microsoft Corporation.
The investment was part of a $21 million Series B round led by global investment firm Mirae Asset Capital. In May last year, Microsoft had invested $6.25 million in NextBillion.ai as part of its extended Series A round.
Growing global allocations for Southeast Asia
There has been a steady increase over the last couple of years in the number of foreign funds that have Southeast Asia as one of their target markets. The total value of proceeds collected by these foreign funds reached $5.89 billion in 2021, up 48% year-on-year, our latest VC review found.
Although roughly only 10% of these foreign funds are likely to be earmarked for investments in Southeast Asia, the growth in the number of global funds whose mandate now includes this region is reflective of growing investor awareness and interest.
At least 22 foreign VCs are currently raising funds that have Southeast Asia allocations. They are targeting to raise $3.42 billion, of which roughly 28% had been secured as of December.
Regionally, the total fundraising proceeds by Southeast Asia-based VC firms reached $2.15 billion last year, slightly higher than $1.92 billion in 2020. Local VCs launched 37 funds last year, bringing the total number of funds in the market to 79 with a combined target of $7.6 billion.
VCs on the fundraising trail
Other updates from DATA VANTAGE
Singapore-based home fertility solutions provider Hannah Life Technologies received $5.15 million this week as part of a pre-Series A funding round led by Monk’s Hill Ventures. Other investors in the round include Golden Gate Ventures, Anthro Ventures and healthtech entrepreneur Dr. Jack Wang.
Singapore-based video game maker Virtuos more than doubled its net profit before interest for the financial year 2021 as its revenue jumped 54.6%, its latest financial update shows. Virtuos had bagged $150 million in funding from Baring Private Equity Asia last year for global expansion.
Pharmaforte, the Singapore-headquartered distributor of pharmacy products, saw its 2021 net profit before interest and tax decline 31.5% relative to the previous year while recording an 11.5% increase in total revenue.
The demand for luxury watches appears to have remained strong under the pandemic, if the financial performance of Singapore-registered watch retailer WatchBox is any indication. The company saw its total revenue for 2021 increase by nearly 40% year-on-year, allowing the company to turn a profit.
Janio, a Singapore-based logistics company, has reported a 76% increase in total revenue for the financial year ended June 30, 2021. Earlier this week, the company raised $14 million in a Series A extension round led by Vertex Growth Fund.
