VENTURE debt provider, Genesis Alternative Ventures, has launched its second venture debt fund, with a target of US$150 million. About half of fund II’s target has been raised at the first close earlier in Aug.

The first close had 80 per cent of fund commitments come from existing limited partners, Sassoon Investment, Aozora Bank, Korea Development Bank, Mizuho Leasing and Silverhorn among others. New investors also include OurCrowd, an Israel-based global venture investing platform.

“Fund II’s mission is to continue the work we’ve done in Fund I, but also to expand the mandate into growth debt. This allows us to invest into later stage companies who are looking for more debt financing,” said Dr. Jeremy Loh, co-founder and managing partner, Genesis Alternative Ventures.

Fund I has financed 25 companies from Series A to pre-IPO across business sectors. Matterport, a global spatial data company and Akulaku, a banking and digital finance platform in South-east Asia are 2 unicorns in Fund I’s portfolio.

As South-east Asia’s startup ecosystem matures, the region is seeing more late stage companies delaying their initial public offerings (IPO) on capital markets. As such these companies will need less dilutive capital to grow, where growth debt will find a market there.

“We are firm believers that venture debt will play an important role for start-up founders who are confident of their business growth and recognise the long-term value in complementary financing for working capital and other needs,” said Victor Sassoon, chairman, Sassoon Investment.

Source: www.businesstimes.com.sg