Openspace Ventures, a Singaporean venture capital firm that focuses on early-stage technology companies in Southeast Asia, has announced the close of its third fund at a hard cap of $200 million. With this third vehicle, Openspace Ventures now manages a total of $425 million.
Openspace Ventures Co-Founder and Partner Shane Chesson said, “2021 is poised to be a strong year for Openspace Ventures and the Southeast Asian ecosystem. Companies are scaling faster than ever and reaching key milestones on the path to liquidity or exit. This progress helped Openspace fully raise Fund 3 to its hard cap in 8 months during the midst of a pandemic. We thank investors for their confidence in us as we aim to continue to deliver superior returns and positively transform Southeast Asian economies in the long run.”
The firm’s third fund, called Openspace Ventures III, L.P., is supported by six global investors. This includes Singapore’s Temasek Holdings, US-based StepStone Group, Norwegian Norfund, Japanese leading global bank Mizuho Financial Group, German KFW DEG, and US-based 57 Stars.
“The team and all the portfolio founders worked tirelessly through the unprecedented crisis of 2020 and it showed. We executed two successful full exits last year and made four investments out of Fund 3 in Indonesia and Thailand in the midst of the pandemic,” Openspace Ventures Co-Founder and Partner Hian Goh said.
Since its establishment in 2014 by Chesson and Goh, Openspace Ventures has invested in 33 companies across verticals including logistics, FinTech, AgriTech, EdTech, HealthTech, CleanTech, and B2B SaaS. One of the firm’s earlier investments includes Indonesian unicorn Gojek. Openspace has also invested in the Series A stage of companies such as Indonesian healthtech startup Halodoc, Filipino consumer tech platform Kumu, Thai fintech startup Finnomena, and Singaporean healthtech startup Biofourmis. More recently, the company participated in a fund raising for Nutrition Technology’s industrial-scale insect protein factory in Malaysia.
Openspace Ventures Executive Director Jassica Huang Pouleur said, “We continue to see enormous untapped potential in the market. The Southeast Asian startup ecosystem continues to evolve and is now producing a high volume of attractive mid-stage investment opportunities. We are proud to be a meaningful contributor to the Southeast Asia tech ecosystem’s evolution as we continue to back strong start-ups and participate in their next phase of growth.”
Despite the restrictions brought up by the pandemic, Openspace Ventures was able to raise its third vehicle in 8 months. In 2020, the company was also able to raise more than $2 billion and capital, bringing its total follow-on capital to $6.5 billion.