Two renowned angel investors set up $7m venture capital firm

Michael Blakey (L) and William Klippgen. Photo credit: Cocoon Capital.

William Klippgen and Michael Blakey – two of the most experienced angel investors in the Singapore and UK startup scenes, respectively – have set up a US$7 million venture capital firm in Singapore, according to a statement today.

The VC firm, Cocoon Capital, will focus on seed and pre-series A investments, and will sign checks ranging from US$250,000 to US$700,000 in Southeast Asia and India. It will specifically back software-as-a-service, ecommerce, and fintech startups.

“It’s what we know best,” says William, “and not many venture funds currently support companies in these sectors at an early stage.”

However, the firm will not take the traditional VC approach, the partners say. It will invest in no more than five startups per year so it can provide “intensive” business support and mentorship.

“We created Cocoon Capital to turn local startups into successful global businesses and founders into CEOs. We will achieve this by providing business support first, then financing – not the other way around,” states Michael. He notes that this approach has “yielded a 75 percent success rate, with financial returns comparable to those of the top quartile of Silicon Valley-based venture funds.”

“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,” William adds.

The duo met when they were mentors at startup accelerator JFDI Asia back in 2013. After a year, they started co-investing in companies.

Together, they have 30 years of experience in investing and growing startups in Southeast Asia and Europe. They’ve found prominent exits like data analytics startup Nugit, digital media firm Tickled Media, and real estate portal PropertyGuru. “We have complementary skills and experience and hold a similar view on the amount of work and time it really takes to build a company… We really just enjoy working together and have a huge amount of trust in each other,” shares William.

Pre-investment support

Also worth noting is that founding teams can tap into Cocoon Capital’s investor and mentor network for local market knowledge and sector expertise even before an investment is made.

“This enables a seamless transition to post-investment support where founders can also access the network for potential customers, talent, and even local investors for subsequent rounds of funding post-internationalization,” the firm says in its statement.

The VC has a global network of investors, including 28 family offices and active angel investors Magnus Grimeland, co-founder of Zalora; Karan Thakral, chairman of the Singapore Angel Network; and Salman Niaz, portfolio manager at Goldman Sachs Asset Management.

Converted from Singapore dollars. Rate: US$1 = SGD 1.42.

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