For the next series of unicorns to emerge from Southeast Asia, private equity firms will have to do earlier stage deals and help startups progress to larger institutional rounds, Jeffrey Perlman, Southeast Asia chief for Warburg Pincus, told DEALSTREETASIA in an interview.
US-headquartered Warburg, which was part of the first PE round in Indonesia’s ride-hailing major Go-Jek when the latter raised more than $550 million in 2016, has demonstrated it can walk the talk by leading a $64-million round for local SaaS firm Trax last year.
Singapore-based Trax, which serves the retail industry, recently raised $125 million in a round led by China’s Boyu Capital. That financing round valued the company, which is in talks with Nasdaq and New York Stock Exchange for an IPO, at close to $1 billion.
