B Capital Group, a Singapore- and US-based venture capital firm, has raised $126.3 million in less than two weeks so far for its Ascent Fund II as shown by a filing posted on the US Securities and Exchange Commission, as reported by DealStreet Asia. The fund will reportedly be used to start investing in startups at Seed to Series A stages.
Founded in 2014 by Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin and former Bain executive Raj Ganguly, the firm has mostly invested in companies in enterprise technology, FinTech, HealthTech, consumer enablement technology, transportation, and logistics industries in their Series B to C round of funding. The firm has invested as much as $50 million in each portfolio company with reserves for possible follow-ons. B Capital has invested in almost 30 companies, including Singaporean logistics startup NinjaVan, Indonesian coffee chain Kopi Kenangan, online bookkeeping platform BukuKas, Blackbuck, Synack, KhataBook, and CXA Group.
The firm’s maiden fund, B Capital Fund LP, closed at $260 million in February 2018. In September 2020, the firm reportedly raised around $200 million for its global portfolio. In June 2020, the firm raised $821.79 million for its second global fund from 161 investors. Last month, the firm’s special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), B Capital Technology Opportunities, filed for a $300 million IPO at Nasdaq.
With the firm’s latest fund geared towards startups at Seed to Series A stage, it will most likely start looking at promising companies in earlier stages so that it can get in early and invest across multiple rounds. The fund’s target cap has not been announced but sources cited by DealStreet Asia indicate it as $150 million. The firm was able to raise the initial $126.3 million fund within less than two weeks with the help of 30 investors.
B Capital also aims to address the demand for Seed funding from VCsas tech companies are gaining more and more traction. According to the report, roughly 70 percent of Southeast Asian venture capitals in 2019 to Q2 2020 were in their Seed to Series A stage of funding.
Featured Image: B Capital Group team