The new fund, Intudo Ventures IV, will invest in more than a dozen young Indonesian start-ups across sectors, and help them expand globally, founding partners Eddy Chan and Patrick Yip said in an interview. The firm had previously obtained US$144 million for its third fund and has also raised a separate US$50 million fund to invest in areas including renewable energy.
“We don’t believe Indonesia, Southeast Asia can support a fund in excess of US$90 million,” Chan said. “The market has pulled back by about 45%.”
A cloudy global economic outlook has battered tech companies’ valuations, and venture firms have been struggling to raise capital amid a depressed market for initial public offerings (IPOs). Southeast Asia remains a challenging market for raising equity, as many of its still-unprofitable start-ups are deemed high-risk by the world’s venture investors.
Now, money will go extremely far in the market, and the start-up industry is becoming more capital-efficient, said Chan, adding that the firm’s initial investment into a company will range from US$1 million to US$10 million.
Since Intudo Ventures debuted in 2017, more capital has been flowing into Southeast Asia, helping regional and local VC firms to raise bigger funds. Intudo said it will stick to its roots as an early-stage VC firm that concentrates squarely on Indonesia.
Investors in Intudo’s new fund include more than 30 Indonesian families and their conglomerates, and Black Kite Capital, the family office of Singaporean investor Koh Boon Hwee. Its portfolio companies include telemedicine start-up Halodoc, coffee retailer Common Grounds, and fintech company Xendit.
Uploaded by Liza Shireen Koshy