Venture Capital

Kae Capital, a venture capital firm in India, announced Friday that it has closed its Fund III, raising INR 767 Cr ($96 million).Some of the leading international institutional investors who have backed this fund are Old Mutual Wealth, Velo Partners, and Finext, whilesome of the Indian investors are HDFC Holdings and SIDBI.

East Ventures, the Singapore-based venture capital firm that has supported over 250 tech companies across Southeast Asia, has on Wednesday launched the fourth initiative of Indonesia PASTI BISA, namely Maju Terus Pantang Mundur (Keep Moving Forward, Never Give Up) or IDPB MTPM, to revive and support the digital ecosystem in Indonesia.

Accelerating Asia, a Singapore-based venture capital accelerator focused on pre-Series A startups has invested in ten new companies from across Asia Pacific as part of its 7th cohort. The new investments take the venture capital accelerator’s portfolio to 60 startups who have raised a total of over $50 million, with Cohort 7 having raised $5.2 million prior…

Singapore-listed financial firm Yangzijiang Financial Holding Ltd, has partnered with Temasek-backed investment firm Heliconia Capital Management Pte. Ltd. (Heliconia), to launch S$150 million ($109 million) fund to invest in promising small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Singapore and other Southeast Asian countries.

Wavemaker Partners, a Singapore-based venture capital firm, has on Wednesday welcomed Andy Hwang as its new General Partner, as the firm celebrates 10 years of investing in the region. Hwang is transitioning into venture capital after angel investing and coaching startup founders full-time for the past year.

East Ventures, a sector-agnostic venture capital firm in Indonesia, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Indonesia Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KADIN) Net Zero Hub and World Resources Institute (WRI) Indonesia for the strategic partnership and collaboration in advancing commitment towards net zero targets.

Emerging markets venture capital firm Quona Capital announced Wednesday the final close of its Fund III at $332 million, significantly exceeding its $250 million target. This is the third fund from Quona Capital since its inception, bringing the firm’s aggregate committed capital to over $745 million.

Indonesia-based, early-stage venture capital firm AC Ventures (ACV) announced Wednesday the launch of its education platform for tech entrepreneurs in emerging markets called ACV Academy. The free-to-access, ongoing, training sequence is designed to take the early-stage tech ecosystem in Southeast Asia to a new level of know-how.

Australian venture capital firm Blackbird said Wednesday it has raised Australia’s largest venture capital fund at just over AUD$1 billion ($640 million) in committed capital. The fund, consisting of a AUD$284 million ($180.77 million) core fund, AUD$668 million ($425.2 million) follow-on fund and NZ$75 million ($43.76 million) dedicated New Zealand fund.

Essentially, ESG is being called on to encourage organizations, especially businesses, to strongly consider factors beyond just their bottom line – particularly environmental impact, employee culture, and the ethics of how the company is being run.