<article>Launched in September this year, early-stage venture capital (VC) firm Teja Ventures embraces gender-lens investing for a very simple reason &#8211; it makes good business sense.</article>

Launched in September this year, early-stage venture capital (VC) firm Teja Ventures embraces gender-lens investing for a very simple reason &#8211; it makes good business sense.
&#8220;People think we invest in women as a social opportunity but it’s actually economic-driven. They think doing so (investing in women-led businesses) is a social enterprise but there’s actually commercial value to it and that’s where we see the opportunity,&#8221; said Teja Ventures founding partner Virginia Tan.
Women are expected to earn a whopping $18 trillion in total this year globally, per an EY study. With its huge spending power, this group has, however, been largely catered to by businesses created and led by men. One of the key reasons there still remains a paucity of women-led businesses is because of the oft-cited gender funding gap. Put simply, venture capital firms, largely a male bastion, have tended to trust men &#8211; and businesses founded and/or led by men &#8212; with their capital.
Teja Ventures seeks to change that a little. Tan says the VC firm will look at a variety of factors before choosing startups for investments, including organisational diversity (how many women are in the management and at the board level?), targeted consumer profile (are women the target audience?) and business model (will the business empower women economically?).
The idea to establish Teja Ventures, Tan says, stemmed from her own investment experience as an angel investor.
Formerly a corporate lawyer, she first dabbled in investments when she moved to Beijing to work on deals related to China’s One Belt One Road initiative. During her time in China, she became the co-founder and president of Lean In China, a women’s platform with over 100,000 members across more than 25 cities and 100 universities in China.
She then went on to co-found a global initiative focusing on technology for women, She Loves Tech, which consists of an annual global startup competition in Beijing.
During this period, Tan also became an angel investor in several Chinese startups that she has now taken to the next level with Teja Ventures.
&#8220;There’s a lot of capital in the space yet to be unlocked. We’re looking at the same things any other VC would look at on top of the gender lens methodology that we apply and we believe now is the time to invest in Southeast Asia,” Tan said.
<h3>Leveraging SEA-China ties</h3>
Tan says Teja Ventures has already invested in three companies: China-based AI emotions analytics startup Wonder Technology, Indonesian fintech firm Duithape, and India-based last-mile distribution startup Frontier Markets. It is now looking at the female-focused content industry, education sector, fintech as well as online-to-offline businesses for potential investments.
With a focus on early-stage investments, the firm will look to invest at pre-Series A and Series A stages and cutting check sizes between $100,000 and $1 million.
Noting that Southeast Asia is still 5-7 years behind China, Tan pointed out that the region could look to localise Chinese technology and business models for consumers in Southeast Asia. It has feet on the ground currently in both China and Indonesia.
“The business models and technology in China are quite mature, which can be duplicated into the region. For example, there is no Meituan-Dianping in Southeast Asia yet. As for ride-sharing, China has Didi Chuxing and in Southeast Asia, we have Grab.
&#8220;In China, the B2C model is slightly saturated, so many businesses/startups are going B2B. But in Southeast Asia, we’re still working on B2C because the market has not saturated yet,&#8221; she said.
Teja Ventures also aims to provide its portfolio companies access to market opportunities in China and Southeast Asia, leveraging synergies across two geographies. The VC is hopeful its approach will come in handy when it is time to look for exit opportunities.
&#8220;Look at Rocket Internet; they came in when nobody had paid much attention to Southeast Asia and they have successfully localised business models for consumers in the region &#8211; leading to opportunistic exits for players interested in expanding in the region.
“We have to also think about how these exits are going to happen &#8211; and I think it’s going to be from China, Japan, and Korea. Yes, China now has capital controls but the capital has to ease somewhere in the future. So, it’s all about localisation,” she said.
Also Read:
<a style="color: #ff0000;" href="https://www.dealstreetasia.com/stories/gender-funding-gap-sarah-chen-109343/">Gender funding gap not pipeline but a capital access problem, says TBDF’s Sarah Chen</a>
<a style="color: #ff0000;" href="https://www.dealstreetasia.com/stories/500-startups-angin-99232/">500 Startups backs seed round for Indonesian angel investment network ANGIN</a>

With a focus on early-stage investments, Teja Ventures will look to invest at pre-Series A and Series A stages and cutting check sizes between $100,000 and $1 million.

Meet Asia's new VC seeking to bring gender-lens investing in vogue

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