Singapore's Vertex adds $290 mln venture fund for high-growth tech firms

ELAN MICROELECTRONICS

12/09/2019 10:49

By Anshuman Daga and Aradhana Aravindan
    SINGAPORE, Sept 12 (Reuters) - Singapore-based Vertex
Venture Holdings, the first main backer of Southeast Asia's
ride-hailing giant Grab, has added a new $290 million venture
capital fund targeting investments in high-growth technology
firms, a senior company official said. 
    The Vertex Growth Fund will seek to invest about $10 million
to $15 million per company, typically in third and fourth round
fundings, versus $3 million to $4 million by affiliate funds in
early rounds, said Vertex Venture Holdings CEO Chua Kee Lock. 
    "Markets like Southeast Asia offer lot more opportunities to
invest in growth capital," Chua, who has headed the investment
firm for more than a decade, told Reuters in an interview. 
    Technology startups are sprouting up across Southeast Asia -
home to about 640 million people - as companies seek to offer a
range of services, including ride-hailing apps, online payments
and e-commerce, with consumers rapidly coming online. 
    The Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia and India Fund invested
in Grab when it was a start-up. Seven-year-old Grab has grown to
become the region's biggest ride-hailing operation, valued at an
estimated $14 billion, sources say. 
    "When a lot of companies had come to a stage where they were
accelerating growth, we had to stop investments," Chua said,
adding that this was due to a 10% investment cap in each company
set by Vertex's early-stage funds. 
    Vertex Growth is the sixth and latest member of Vertex's
global network of funds spread across China, Southeast Asia and
India, the United States and Israel. 
    Vertex has about $3 billion in assets under management
across its network of funds and has invested in more than 200
companies. The funds focus on investments in their regions of
industry specialisation and are run independently. 
    Chua said the Vertex Growth fund exceeded an initial fund
target of $250 million. 
    It secured commitments from Singapore state investor Temasek
Holdings  TEM.UL , Taiwanese chip design firm Elan
Microelectronics  2458.TW  and other institutions, family
offices and funds based in Southeast Asia and Taiwan. 
    Many Southeast Asian funds are sprouting up to tap into
fast-growing firms, while tech giants Alibaba  BABA.N , Tencent
Holdings Ltd  0700.HK  and SoftBank Group Corp  9984.T  are also
expanding their bets in the region. 
    Chua said the fund will look at global opportunities,
including in areas such as cyber-security in Israel and
consumer-related technology in Southeast Asia and China. 
    Vertex Growth has invested about 10 percent of its capital
in companies in the United States, UK and Southeast Asia. 

 (Reporting by Anshuman Daga and Aradhana Aravindan; Editing by
Tom Hogue)
 ((aradhana.aravindan@thomsonreuters.com; +65 6403 5659;))