Kejora and its partners (L-R): Andy Zain (Managing Partner), Barry Pangestu (Advisory Committee), Sebastian Togelang (Founding Partner), Chatchaval Jiaravanon (Advisory Committee), Phengpian Laogumnerd (Venture Partner), Tridbodi Arunanondchai (Venture Partner).
Kejora, a VC firm and startup hub in Indonesia, today announced a new venture fund for Southeast Asian startups.
Its target size is US$80 million and about a third of it has been secured at this point, says Sebastian Togelang. Sebastian leads the fund along with partners Andy Zain and Eri Reksoprodjo.
The average amount Sebastian wants to allocate to individual startups per round is in the US$2 million to US$5 million range. “We can support series A or B, and even seed,” he says.
The fund, which goes by the moniker Kejora Star Capital II, is the VC firm’s second.
While angel and seed-stage funding opportunities have grown substantially over the past five years, the air gets thinner for those growing beyond that phase. This makes this fund a valuable addition to Southeast Asia’s startup ecosystem.
Tech in Asia’s data for Southeast Asia shows that series A deals are growing at a lower pace than seed deals, which means it’s especially tough for seed-stage startups to find follow-up money.
Only a few other VCs with eyes on the region have an investing profile similar to Kejora’s second fund. These include Venturra Capital, Golden Gate Ventures, and Gobi Partners .
Looking at Thailand
Among Kejora Star Capital II’s backers are Barito Pacific Group, an Indonesian conglomerate; the Charoen Pokphand family, which runs a massive Thai conglomerate; and Germany’s Hubert Burda Media.
Kejora has strengthened its regional reach with a new focus on Thailand. The team has also opened a new office in Bangkok.
Kejora’s new headquarters in Thailand. Photo credit: Kejora.
Six startups have already seen money from this pot: The C88 Fintech Group (which includes CekAja in Indonesia and ECompareMo in the Philippines), Qareer Group Asia (which includes Qerja and Jobs.id), Etobee, Investree, Pawoon, and MoneyTable. The latter is Kejora’s first Thailand-based investment.
Doubling down
Only MoneyTable and Investree are new entrants into the Kejora family. All others were previously backed by Kejora’s first fund or its Ideabox accelerator program, Sebastian confirms.
Kejora’s first fund, called Mountain Kejora, made 27 investments in 12 individual companies. Some of them received multiple cash injections. One has shut down. The return created for shareholders, or IRR, is currently at 200 percent, substantially higher than the industry average, says Sebastian.
This is how Kejora presents its first fund’s performance.
However, Kejora’s first fund has yet to see exits, so its current worth is in some ways hypothetical. The IRR calculation, in this case, is done by comparing the initial capital investment amount against the current valuation of the each respective company, Sebastian explains.
Kejora has doubled down on many startups in its portfolio, but some have also attracted third-party investors. For example, C88 is backed by Australia’s Telstra Ventures, Qareer was funded by SB-Isat, and Jualo has attracted funds from NSI Ventures, Lionrock Capital, and Susquehanna among others.
For its second fund, Kejora aims to spend roughly 70 percent on new startups, while 30 percent could go into fueling the best performers from its own portfolio.
With additional research and data visualization by Dian Fadhila.
This post Kejora targets growth-stage startups with $80m fund for Southeast Asia appeared first on Tech in Asia.
from Tech in Asia https://www.techinasia.com/kejora-fund-2
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