The Jakarta Post
Singapore-based venture capital Quest Ventures plans to expand its investment to Indonesia, among other Southeast Asian countries, after recently announcing the first close of a fund worth US$50 million.
The amount represented more than half of its target for the fund named Asia Fund II. It will be invested in post-seed and series A stages funding in start-ups across Southeast Asia and emerging Asia such as Indonesia, Myanmar and the Philippines.
Quest Ventures has been deploying capital in Singapore and Vietnam with its portfolio, including as second-hand e-commerce platform Carousell, property finding platform 99.co and rental fashion StyleTheory.
“We were deliberate in selecting our investors and we hope with this fund we can bring different skill sets, domain experience and connections to help our companies,” said Goh Yiping, partner at Quest Ventures.
Asia Fund II was Quest Ventures’ first institutionally backed fund, receiving financing from Pavilion Capital from Singapore and QazTech Ventures, Kazakhstan’s sovereign wealth fund subsidiary.
The funding marked Kazakhstan’s sovereign wealth fund’s first investment in a venture capital fund in Asia.
“This partnership with Quest Ventures and Pavilion Capital will enable Kazakhstani start-ups to secure important investments, improve competencies and gain access to global markets,” said Adil Nurgozhin, chairman of the board of directors at QazTech Ventures.
