Wavemaker partners announces $60m first close of new $100m fund

Wavemaker Partners, Southeast Asia’s leading early-stage venture capital firm focused on enterprise and deep tech startups announced the first close of its third fund at US$60M (out of a target of US$100M). The firm anticipates investing in 60 new companies with an initial check size of about US$500K.

Blue chip institutions Pavilion Capital, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), and Temasek invested in the fund together with the family offices of the co-founders of Microsoft (Vulcan) and Facebook (EE Capital).

Other investors include Singapore’s Keppel Corporation, multi-family office Aglaia Family Office, and Lance Gokongwei, CEO of top Philippine conglomerate JG Summit Holdings.

Paul Santos, Managing Partner for Wavemaker Partners Southeast Asia, shares the journey in a blog post, “Conviction & Momentum”.

“Most VCs in SEA invest in consumer tech. We’re grateful to have had our share of consumer success with Luxola (acquired by LVMH) and Coins.ph (acquired by Gojek). However, 88 out the 109 investments we’ve made since 2012 have been in enterprise and deep tech startups (about 81%). This is where we’ve built our experience, expertise, and network. This is where our conviction and momentum have grown. With this new fund, we are thrilled to have the opportunity to continue to work with many of the best enterprise and deep tech founders in the region,” he comments.

With this new fund, we are thrilled to have the opportunity to continue to work with many of the best enterprise and deep tech founders in the region.

The firm has built a wide-ranging portfolio across industry verticals (e.g. financial services, healthcare, food/agriculture), horizontal processes (e.g. HR, sales & marketing, cybersecurity), and technologies (AI, IoT, additive manufacturing). Companies that have received significant funding include: Zilingo, ThinCI, Moka, and CashShield. Other companies showing promising traction include Lynk, Wavecell (Wavecell is now 8x8), Red Dot Payment, Structo, GrowSari, Igloohome, and Silent Eight.