<article>Cocoon Capital has launched an early-stage fund in Singapore while Paktor has acquired controling stake in 17 Media.</article>

Cocoon Capital has launched an early-stage fund in Singapore while Paktor has acquired controling stake in 17 Media.
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">Cocoon Capital launches $7m fund</h3>
The Singapore startup ecosystem has welcomed a new S$10 million ($7 million) early stage venture capital fund, <a style="color: #000080;" href="https://cocooncap.com" target="_blank">Cocoon Capital</a>, founded by two angel investors, <a style="color: #000080;" href="https://uk.linkedin.com/in/mblakey" target="_blank">Michael Blakey</a> and <a style="color: #000080;" href="https://sg.linkedin.com/in/alwaysinnovate" target="_blank">William Klippgen</a>.
The fund will invest between S$350,000 and S$1 million in Southeast Asian and Indian startups, it said in a statement. It looks to support B2B or B2B2C digital businesses with a main focus on SaaS, e-commerce and fintech. With the aim of filling the pre-series A funding gap in this region, Klippgen says, “It’s what we know best, and not many venture funds currently support companies in these sectors at an early stage.”
Rather than being sector-focused, the fund will actively seek high potential founders at accelerator programmes and through entrepreneurial platforms both Blakey and Klippgen are involved in.
The fund will not invest in more than five teams a year and will operate on providing business support prior to financing. According to Blakey and Klippge, this thesis has &#8220;yielded a 75 per cent success rate with financial returns comparable to those of the top quartile of Silicon Valley-based venture funds.”
Prior investments involving Klippgen and Blakey include startups like Nugit, Tickled Media and <a style="color: #000080;" href="http://dealstreetasia.com/tag/propertyguru" target="_blank">PropertyGuru</a>.
“We don’t only coach founders on how to build solid business models, but on how to become good managers and build strong teams, too. These are often overlooked aspects of building a successful company. We also want to proactively help founders avoid common early-stage pitfalls instead of troubleshooting afterwards,” explains Klippgen.
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">Paktor acquires controlling take in 17 Media</h3>
Singapore-based <a style="color: #000080;" href="http://dealstreetasia.com/tag/paktor" target="_blank">Paktor Pte Ltd</a> has acquired a controlling stake in Taiwan-based <a style="color: #000080;" href="http://17.media" target="_blank">17 Media</a>. iThe transaction includes a substantial cash injection into 17 Media that will enable it to realise the potential of 17 app, a live-streaming platform which has over 15 million users worldwide.
This is Paktor’s first acquisition with the transaction seeing 17 Media&#8217;s app expand to cover the former&#8217;s existing markets. Jeffrey Huang will remain as founder in his capacity as 17 Media’s Chairman while Paktor Group CEO Joseph Phua will be appointed as 17 Media’s CEO.
Huang started out as part of a hip-hop group, LA. Boyz, and introduced hip-hop culture to the Mandarin-speaking community. He founded Machi Entertainment in 2003, a celebrity management, music, movie and TV production company (Machi Entertainment also owns a top professional eSports team, Machi E-Sports [M17]). Jeffrey founded 17 Media in 2015.
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17 app is a social entertainment mobile app that allows streamers to share their lives with audiences around the world, real-time. With the cash injection, 17 Media will accelerate 17 app’s growth in the region, by strengthening content production and partnerships, and by adding further enhancements to its livestreaming platform, to meet the booming demand for social entertainment on mobile in Asia.
Joseph Phua, CEO and Co-Founder of Paktor Group, said, “This agreement marks a significant milestone for Paktor: 17 Media is a pioneer and leader in the social entertainment industry which has seen explosive growth recently, and yet is still relatively nascent.
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Cocoon Capital has launched an early-stage fund in Singapore and Paktor has acquired a controling stake in 17 Media.

Startup Digest: Cocoon Capital launches $7m fund; Paktor picks stake in 17 Media

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