Singapore state-fund Temasek Holdings’ wholly owned investment arm – Vertex Venture Holdings – has begun raising its third China fund and is targeting $200m.
The fund that will be called Vertex Ventures China III, L.P. has not yet raised any commitments for its latest vehicle, the company said, in a filing with the US securities regulator.
Vertex, which has offices in Singapore, Beijing, Shanghai, Taipei, Bangalore, and the Silicon Valley, invests in both emerging companies as well as leading venture capital funds, and it has pumped in over $1.2 billion into 350 plus startups as well as 90 third party VCs since it was set up.
Currently, a bulk of Vertex’s investments are in China. It had recently done three deals there, including joining $10 million Series B round in Shanghai-based female fashion e-commerce platform Ichuanyi.com.
Last month, Chinese mobile internet platform developer and operator NetDragon Websoft Inc has raised $52.5 million in Series A funding for its online education subsidiary from a group of investors that included Vertex. In November 2014, Chinese e-commerce firm Metao.com had raised $30 million in Series B financing from a group of investors led by Vertex Venture.
Also read: Vertex invests in China’s Ichuanyi & India’s Firstcry
Vertex Ventures invests in NetDragon subsidiary
Vertex leads $30m Series B in China’s Metao
These apart, Vertex has also made investments to the tune of tens of millions of dollars in housekeeping services app maker Ayibang and mobile app Yaochufa.
In October 2014, Vertex Venture Holding CEO Chua Kee Lock had told DEALSTREETASIA that it plans to invest an additional $300 million over the next two to three years, in startups, and also venture capital funds that invest in such companies.
“We will be investing about $300 million more. Today, about 60 per cent of our money is invested in China, about 10 per cent in India and perhaps 10 per cent in South-East Asia and Taiwan and another 10 per cent in Singapore. Going forward, we will maintain these percentages when we invest more in these markets. On an average, we stay invested in a company for seven-eight years,” he had said in the October interaction.
“Most of our money is direct investment—about 70-75 per cent is put directly into companies and, approximately, about 25 per cent, we put into VC funds. We call ourselves a “real” venture capital firm because VCs are all about creating or building great companies—that is the key to who we are. In Asia, there are many players who are very short-term in their mindset and, in the traditional sense, they cannot be considered as venture capital players,” Chua Kee Lock had added.
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