Singapore-based VC firm Jungle Ventures has closed its second fund at $100million with support from existing and new investors. The firm had raised $65 million by September last year and was seeking to raise the remaining to up its ante in Asia.
This Fund will majorly target Series A and select Series B investments mainly in Southeast Asia. Also, on a more opportunistic basis, it will invest businesses in India and Australia particularly where such businesses may benefit from expansion into Southeast Asia. This new fund has established Jungle Ventures as one of the largest early stage venture capital firms in the region.
Support from existing investors was strong and new investor interest was largely driven by demand from institutions and strategic family offices from Asia and the U.S. The investors comprise Temasek Holdings, International Finance Corporation, National Research Foundation of Singapore, Hubert Burda Media as well as leading family office investors such as the Kewalram Chanrai Group and Khoon Hong Kuok.
Amit Anand, Founding Partner, Jungle Ventures, commenting on this latest development, said,
This is a significant milestone for Southeast Asia’s fast growing startup ecosystem and we are grateful for the faith existing investors and new partners have shown in us. With an exceptional team of 15 investing and operational professionals we intend to continue to invest and help build the best technology companies from this region.
Jungle invests across all early stages of start-ups and has investments in Singapore, Indonesia, India and other hotbeds of entrepreneurial activity in South Asia. It is amongst the few VCs that have successfully exited companies via M&A to global brands such as Twitter, HomeAway, Rakuten and Shopclues. It believes that M&A’s will continue to dominate the exit landscape in the region. The firm raised its first fund in 2012, and the new one is ten times bigger establishing the firm as one of the largest early stage venture capital (VC) firms in the region. David Gowdey, Managing Partner, Jungle Ventures said,
The closing of the second round at US$100 million is a strong testament to our investment strategy. We look forward to working more closely with exceptional founding teams and catalyze them to be regional or global category leaders.
