Singapore-based KK Fund – which invests out of a $50-million vehicle in startups across Southeast Asia, Hong Kong and Taiwan – is looking to seal up to five new investments in Vietnam buoyed by a robust pipeline, a top executive told this portal.
The fund is evaluating close to 10 startups from the region, where it made a recent debut.
“We have around 10 companies in the pipeline, in the property, logistics, fintech and entertainment sectors,” Koichi
Saito, founder and general partner of KK Fund told this portal in a recent interaction.
He added that the firm is likely to close up to five more investments in Vietnam within the next 12 months.
Last month, KK Fund marked its maiden Vietnam investment when it co-led a $710k round in recruitment platform
JobHop. Saito said, the firm has been observing the Vietnam market for a couple of years.
“The quality of founders in Vietnam is high,” Saito said.
However, lack of capital for startups including follow-on funding remain challenges for startups to achieve scale in
the country, he added.“I was waiting for the right timing, as a seed investor. Today, Vietnam is getting attention from the region, with a lot of
money from Korean, Japanese and Singapore investors,” he reasons.
Saito also revealed that Sun SEA Capital, KK Fund’s recent partnership investment vehicle with Malaysia’s Sunway
Berhad, is working with one Vietnamese company in the due diligence stage.
The $50-million fund for which KK Fund acts as a general partner focuses on providing Series A financing for
startups in Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam and Hong Kong.
Saito said his firm was confident about finding early-stage founders, taking the startups to the next level and earning
returns.
From: Deal Street Asia