OSK-SBI Venture Partners Ltd. (OSK-SBI) has on Wednesday announced the launch of its second venture capital fund to invest in category-defining companies across Southeast Asia.

The firm said in a statement that the first close of $20 million in capital commitments highlights the continued strength of the cross-region collaboration between OSK Ventures International Berhad (OSKVI), an investment firm listed on Malaysia stock exchange, and SBI Holdings, Inc. a Japanese financial giant, through its subsidiary, SBI Ventures Malaysia Sdn Bhd (SBIVM).

Active fundraising for Fund 2 is ongoing with the target to hit final close of capital commitments of $40 million, according to the statement.

The successive fund will be investing across a broad range of technology sectors, such as healthcare, financial services, enterprise software, education, environmental and renewable energy.

Consistent with the firm’s strategy over the first fund, investments will span company stages from Series A to pre-initial public offering (IPO) and include follow-on funding for portfolio companies to support their journey.

For the successive fund’s debut investment, OSK-SBI is leading a growth stage round in Allrites (allrites.com), a global film, TV, and sports content marketplace, where broadcasters and streaming platforms can buy content from major Hollywood studios and independent producers alike.

The content-as-a-service platform (CaaS) founded by former television producer Riaz Mehta, is home to more than 150,000 hours of content, with customers in five continents.

“We believe there’s never been a better time to invest in Southeast Asia and this may represent the startup ecosystem’s second act, as the community of experienced founders and employees grows, business models strengthen, and technological innovation increases to tackle ASEAN’s most pressing issues,” said Yoshihiro Ishiwata, Managing Director of SBI Ventures Malaysia Sdn. Bhd.

SBIVM and OSKVI brought together their multi-decade track records of investing in ASEAN technology startups and growth companies with the establishment of their inaugural fund back in 2018.

Their Fund 1 has since grown its investment portfolio to include category leading companies such as Doctor Anywhere, which provides healthcare to over 2.5 million users in six countries; Sunday Insurance, one of the region’s largest insurtechs with over $100 million in revenue; and Java Offshore, whose clients include many of the world’s largest oil and gas companies.

“As we embark on this journey into Southeast Asia’s dynamic and fast-growing tech landscape, we are driven by a vision to empower innovation, accelerate growth and facilitate
many of these startups’ ‘second act’,

“Our commitment to fostering the region’s brightest talents
and groundbreaking ideas reflects our belief in the transformative power of technology to shape the future,” said Amelia Ong, Chief Executive Officer of OSK Ventures International.

Since its establishment in the year 2000, OSKVI has successfully nurtured more than 24 companies to a trade sale and/or initial public offering and currently has 37 active portfolio companies.

SBI Holdings is an internet-based financial services in Japan.

Established in 1999 and spun off from SoftBank in 2006, the firm is now a Tokyo Stock Exchange listed financial conglomerate, which focuses on financial services, asset management and investment businesses.

SBIVM, the 100 percent owned Malaysia-based subsidiary of SBI Holdings, established its footprint in Malaysia since 2011.

Throughout the years, the firm has formed joint venture funds with Brunei government, Malaysian government linked investment firms and a Malaysian publicly listed company that invested into private companies across ASEAN.

Malaysian stock exchange partners SSM to launch platform to facilitate SMEs fundraising