Venture Capital

Entrepreneur First (EF), a United Kingdom-based scaleup investor in early stage founder talent, said Wednesday it has raised a $158 million Series C funding round from a group of veteran technology founders, including Patrick and John Collison, Reid Hoffman, Taavet Hinrikus and Matt Mullenweg.

Ascend Vietnam Ventures, a seed-stage venture capital firm located in Ho Chi Minh City, announced Tuesday that it has exceeded its $50 million target for its flagship early-stage venture capital fund, AVV Alpha. Led by Binh Tran and Eddie Thai, the fund is seeking the next wave of globally iconic startups emerging from Vietnam.

German media, services, and education company Bertelsmann said Tuesday that its strategic investment arm Bertelsmann India Investments (BII) has raised $500 million to back Indian technology startups. Bertelsmann has implemented its group-wide Boost 25 strategy, and plans to invest between €5 billion ($5.29 billion) and €7 billion ($7.4 billion) by 2025 as…

Panthera Growth Partners (PGP), a Singapore-based tech-focused growth investment firm, announced Tuesday the first close of its second fund, having secured commitments for more than half of the target raise. The fund's target has been set at $250 million, and is expected to be reached by end of this fiscal year. It will offer up to 100 percent of fund…

Malaysian ethical investment and social finance platform operator Ethis Group, has on Thursday launched EthisX as part of its global expansion plan, continues to trail blaze by collaborating with pan-Asian venture capital firm, Gobi Partners, to structure and set up a $20 million Shariah-compliant seed fund.

AC Ventures(ACV), an early-stage Indonesia-focused Venture Capital firm, said Wednesday it has appointed Alan Hellawell as Senior Advisor and Venture Partner. Alan will bring to bear deep technology industry experience to support ACV’s portfolio companies in areas such as value creation, advisory, and strategic introductions; as well as apply his expertise…

United States and Japan-based venture capital firm World Innovation Lab (WiL) announced Tuesday that the firm has raised over $1 billion in additional capital. The capital will be deployed across multiple funds including WiL’s third growth fund, WiL Ventures III; WiL’s venture fund investments, WiL Strategic Partners funds; and corporate VC (CVC) funds.…

Singapore-based venture capital firm True Global Ventures (TGV) announced Thursday its first closure of its $146 million follow on fund to invest into late stage Web3 startups. The True Global Ventures 4 Plus (TGV4 Plus) follow on fund has a group of 15 General Partners (GP), who lead the fund and its Investment Committee, putting in more than $62 million…

“Both Pui Yan and Kanika are purpose-driven investment professionals with extensive experience in investing and working with start-up founders. They have made significant contributions to VVSEAI and have constantly provided valuable insights and perspectives to our deal decisions,” said Joo Hock Chua, Managing Partner at VVSEAI, said in a statement.

We often strive to speak to founders as early as possible to get a head start on cultivating a long-term relationship. It may or may not end favorably with an investment but just building that connection and trust alone can go a long way. To me, it’s not just about clinching the deal, but about growing the startup ecosystem as a whole.