OSK Ventures International Bhd (KL:OSKVI) has exited its investment in Alternatives.pe, a Southeast Asia-focused private market data provider, after Japanese business intelligence firm Uzabase Inc acquired all outstanding shares of the Singapore-based company.

Uzabase announced the deal on March 16 and completed the acquisition on April 1. No deal value was disclosed.

OSK VI held a minority stake in Alternatives.pe through its ET Fund II, which focuses on Southeast Asian new economy companies. The exit was completed within two years of the original investment.

"This trade sale was completed within two years of our investment into Alternatives.pe and we are pleased that they are now part of a larger private market data group, where they can provide more products to the Southeast Asian ecosystem," said OSK VI executive director Amelia Ong.

OSK VI had also been a user of Alternatives.pe's platform before becoming an investor, using it for valuation work and stakeholder reporting, she said.

Founded in 2019, Alternatives.pe has built one of the largest private market databases in Southeast Asia, covering more than 350,000 companies across the region. The platform sources its information primarily from official government filings rather than aggregating publicly available internet data.

Ong said OSK VI's investment thesis was anchored on a structural gap in the region. Institutional-grade private market data of the kind available through platforms, such as PitchBook in Western markets, did not exist with comparable depth for Southeast Asia. Alternatives.pe addressed that gap through a proprietary database sourced directly from regulatory filings, giving it an accuracy advantage over competitors relying on web crawling or crowdsourced data.

Ong added that assets under management allocation for private markets in Asia-Pacific was growing at a high-teens compound annual growth rate, with the number of private market firms compounding at nearly 15% annually.

"The addressable market for private market data services was expanding, and Alternatives.pe was the clear first-mover in Southeast Asia with approximately 31% market share among VC firms actively investing in the region at the time of our investment," she said.

On the decision to exit, Ong said the Uzabase transaction represented a compelling strategic fit, as an acquirer like Uzabase would also accelerate the growth trajectory of Alternatives.pe in ways that would otherwise take several more years organically.

"We do not manage it to an artificial holding period and evaluate potential opportunities to recycle cash proceeds from our divestments. Instead, we monitor each portfolio company closely. We had shareholder access to Alternatives.pe's operational metrics, which gave us real-time visibility into platform performance beyond what quarterly financials could tell us — and we engaged with the founder and management team on exit readiness from an early stage," she said.

"We are not investors who hold positions indefinitely waiting for a public market window. When an exit opportunity emerges that reflects fair value and provides our limited partners with meaningful returns, we will act on it."

Uzabase, which operates the Speeda business intelligence platform and NewsPicks media outlet, said the acquisition is part of its ambition to become Asia's leading economic information infrastructure by 2028. The company said Alternatives.pe's Southeast Asia and Australia datasets would be distributed globally through Speeda's customer base.