CEBU, Philippines — Singapore-based venture capital firm Insignia Ventures Partners has filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to raise its third fund, which will likely make early-stage tech investments in Southeast Asia.
The filing, signed by Insignia’s founding managing partner, Yinglan Tan, did not specify the target size for Insignia Ventures Partners Fund III. A Deal Street Asia report in July last year, however, quoted sources as saying the fund was looking to raise around $250 million.
The firm closed its second fund at a hard cap of $200 million in October 2019, while its debut fund had secured $120 million by its final close in 2018, the largest maiden vehicle raised by a Southeast Asia-based venture capital firm at the time.
The second fund, Insignia Ventures Fund II’ which was “heavily oversubscribed,’ had raised capital from limited partners, including sovereign wealth funds, university endowments, foundations and family offices in Asia, Europe and North America.
It made prominent early bets in Southeast Asia, including on used cars marketplace Carro, smart lock maker Igloohome, fintech firm Payfazz, logistics startup Logivan, online lending platform First Circle and co-working space provider Cocowork.
Most recently, Insignia led the $4 million funding of Singapore-based financial technology startup Bluesheets. It also backed the $70 million Series C round for Indonesian “social commerce” platform Super and the $6 million funding of RateS, another social commerce startup in the country.
Insignia’s filing comes as Southeast Asia’s startups saw nearly 20% decline in deal volume in the second quarter of this year from the previous three-month period, as a few megadeals spurred a surge in total funding to DealStreetAsia’s “SE Deal Review: Q2 2022.”
Total deal count fell nearly 20%, quarter-on-quarter, to 250 in the second quarter of 2022, the lowest in three quarters. The drop was sharper than the 12% quarter-to-quarter contraction two years ago, when most countries in the region brought in travel lockdowns in face of COVID-19.
Insignia joins a list of venture capital specialists that have recently raised or are currently raising funds to target investment in Southeast Asia. That include Singapore-based Jungle Ventures, which raised $600 million in a new fund focused on Southeast Asia and India.
Openspace Ventures’ OSV+ also closed its debut growth-stage fund at $200 million. Singapore-based 1982 Ventures, an early-stage venture based 1982 Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm that invests in fintech startups across Southeast Asia, Pakistan and Bangladesh, also closed its maiden fund at $20 million, exceeding its $15 million target.
Jakarta-based early-stage investor AC Ventures early this month filed to raise $500 million across two venture funds.
SOURCE: asia.nikkei.com