With current economic uncertainty and geopolitical challenges, Securing the financing of startups in Asia Recently it has change into more difficult. Venture Capital firms There was also a deterioration of the economic situation, which led to a decrease in the number of closing funds.
The VC market “passes [one of its] Cyclical winters marked with high interest rates, sharpened liquidity and cautious sentiment of LP, “said Akio Tanaka, co -founder and partner in the important Asia, VC from Tokyo and Taipei, said TechCrunch in an interview.
However, the funds are still closing. Asia headline He said on Tuesday that he had accomplished one of the largest funds so far, the ASIA Fund V header was $ 145 million to take a position in technological startups in Asia and Pacific. (Heading He said earlier that he aimed at $ 180 million per fund).
The latest Headline Fund is intended for startups of the founders building firms targeted at digital transformation and cross-border activity in Japan, Taiwan and Southeast Asia, with selective investments in South Korea. The headline invests in an early stage-faced to the AZ series with the size of checks from $ 1 million to $ 5 million in e-commerce, logistics, fintech, IP and AI.
Supporters of the fifth Fund at the head of Asia include a mixture of public and private entities, including Japan Investment Corporation (JIC), National Development Fund of Taiwan (NDF), Korea Venture Investment Corporation (KVIC) and MSE Japan support.
The recent Headline fund has already invested in 17 firms, including Newmo, Japanese taxi and startup of driving sharing; Jenfi, a company from Singapore, providing financing based on revenues for digital firms and startups in Southeast Asia; AND Pi-xcelsStartup from Tokyo and Singapore, which provides NFC technology for buyers to send bills to their clients.
Some investors in Southeast Asia I prefer to make secure investments that generate profits According to Tanak, as an alternative of investing in highly developing high -risk technological startups in a difficult financial climate. The header goals to make investments that these investors are not.
“The valuations at an early stage are still in the place where the most extensive phrases contribute,” said Tanaka, “especially in today’s starting environment, in which the valuations were compressed at a later stage and the liquidity remains limited.”
Tanaka told Techcrunch that the company is particularly excited about the possibilities in Japan. According to Tanak, most Japanese startups focused on business on the local market. There were many IPO offers, although they were relatively small.
“Many founders of startups in Japan decided that low-hanging fruit with a relatively small offer was making public,” Tanaka added. “We are very interested in global startups coming out of Asia, regardless of whether Japanese startups are international, or maybe in Southeast Asia, or startups from North Asia, which are global.”
The headline Asia is part of the important global network, with regional offices in the USA, Europe and Latin America. VC has about $ 4 billion in managed assets.
Established in 2008, the headline Asia, which supported over 100 startups, manages around USD 420 million in its five funds. The company employs 10 investment specialists in Tokyo, Taipei and Singapore.
Closing the latest Headline Fund appears on the heels of other fundraisers of VC funds focused on Asia.
Antler closed the Southeast Asia Fund in August in the amount of $ 72 million, and Mindworks Capital, a VC company based in Hong Kong, He has accomplished the fourth Pan-Asia fund for $ 220 million in October. In November, Indonesia VC intuto secured $ 125 million for two funds, including $ 50 million for an investment fund in further natural resources and renewable energy.