CNA938’s Eugene Loh, as part of the Singapore Stories series, interviewed Quest Ventures’ Russ Neu on his motivation for running the impact fund and the rationale for setting up Social Collider.
“When I was in China touring the villages struck with AIDS, one particular incident struck me hard… this 18 year-old boy did not know what was “email”. It was 2014, not 2004.”
Azerbaijan’s news agency reports that Asia’s leading venture fund Quest Ventures is cooperating with Kazakhstan.
James Tan, managing partner of Quest Ventures, said, “The cooperation looks to bring about closer economic and people-to-people relations between the two growing regions of Central Asia and Southeast Asia. More importantly, we recognise the importance of capital and technology in tackling the world’s problems and are putting in place mechanisms to support startups that are looking to do so.”
In a wide-ranging interview, the Bangkok Post talks to Quest Ventures’ James Tan on “steering startups”.
On Singapore: “Singapore is small but we have been blessed with many opportunities and an ecosystem that has the ability to put its money where its mouth is to drive certain areas where we can see trends developing,” says Mr Tan.
On ASEAN: “On the challenge side, we know we are small so we have to look outward and the best place is our own backyard which is Asean. So we should be tapping into those [markets] and ACE wants to lay a foundation for this region to be a perfect ecosystem as a whole. We are doing that with the GIA.”
On public sector influence: Mr Tan’s preference is for the public sector not to interfere too much. Startups should be allowed to bloom and compete within the private sector, and government only needs to step in if it foresees some kind of systemic or social harm.
Baiterek National Management Holding, the sovereign wealth fund of Kazakhstan, signs agreement with Singapore’s Quest Ventures to grow its digital economy.
“Қазақстандық стартаптар шетелдік венчурлық инвесторлардың қолдауына мұқтаж. Бұл туралы «QTV Sessions» форумында «Бәйтерек» ұлттық басқару холдингінің директоры Әділ Нұрғожин мәлімдеді. Ол отандық стартаптар шетелдік нарыққа шығуға қауқарсыз,-деді. Сондықтан өнертапқыштарды қолдау мақсатында әлемдік қорлармен ынтымақтастықты арттыру керектігін айтты. «Бәйтерек» ұлттық басқару холдингі “Quest Ventures” сингапурлық венчурлық қоры және Тайландтың ұлттық инновациялық агенттігімен келісім-шартқа қол қойды. Енді отандық стартаптарға Сингапур және Таиланд компаниялары қолдау көрсететін болды. Осылайша Қазақстанда сандық қызметті экспорттауға мүмкіндік туды.”
Quest Ventures Russ Neu was on the panel on Singapore’s hottest startups 2019.
“Businesses that were able to crack the code and achieve billion-dollar valuations were the topic for another insightful panel session which was graced by Shavit Clein, Head of Strategy, Trax, Devina Halim, Associate, East Ventures and Russ Neu, Venture Partner, Impact, Quest Ventures.
Neu… warns against putting too much premium on lofty valuations that more often than not crumble under the scrutiny of public markets. “Increasingly, people confuse confidence with capability,” he said. “I like to see traction based on real growth you achieved and not just based on scans or data which may or may not be helpful in evaluating a company… Unfortunately, we are now driven by perception.””
Baiterek National Management Holding, the sovereign wealth fund of Kazakhstan, on the importance of growing Kazakhstan and Central Asia startups.
“В рамках «QTV SESSIONS» состоялась торжественная церемония подписания меморандума о сотрудничестве между АО «QazTech Ventures» и ведущим сингапурским венчурным фондом «Quest Ventures».
В свою очередь партнер Quest Ventures Джефри Сеа поддержал своего коллегу, отметив, что создание экосистемы – обязательное условие для развития стартапов.
– Это здорово, что государство поддерживает стартапы и создает для них открытый рынок. Это важный вектор для роста экономики не только Казахстана, но и региона в целом. Создание экосистемы обязательное составляющее для движения. В целом, казахстанские стартапы могут ориентироваться не только на Азию, но и на весь мир, – подчеркнул Джефри Сеа.”
Baiterek National Management Holding, the sovereign wealth fund of Kazakhstan, on the importance of working with investors who are familiar with large markets.
“Цель подписания сегодняшних меморандумов на самом деле очень простая – поставить казахстанскую экосистему стартапов на карту мира, поскольку она у нас ещё достаточно новая, – отметил Адиль Нургожин. – Мы много работаем, и часть этой работы в том, чтобы установить эти прочные связи с более развитыми экосистемами. Почему это важно? Во-первых, в этих странах есть деньги, есть профессиональные венчурные инвесторы – только в одном Сингапуре ежегодно стартапы со всего мира финансируются на 10 миллиардов долларов. И нам тоже надо иметь возможности презентовать там свои проекты. И второе – это экспорт цифровых услуг. Наши ребята могут делать вполне успешные проекты, но рынок нашей страны слишком мал. Потому есть смысл выходить на большие рынки и зарабатывать там. Чем больше потенциальные инвесторы будут знать о нас, тем легче будет продвигать наши проекты и создавать совместные фонды.”
“According to one source close to the development, Quest Ventures is targeting a $25-million first close. It is understood to have garnered interest from limited partners (LP) including two sovereign wealth funds, one of them based in Singapore.
Quest Ventures first announced the launch of its $50-million early-stage Southeast Asian fund in March this year. The vehicle marks the first time the VC firm is raising capital from external LPs, having previously invested out of the personal capital of its managing partner, James Tan.
Tan is the co-founder of Nasdaq-listed Chinese e-commerce company 55tuan. After close to a decade in mainland China, Tan – a Singaporean – cashed out his stake to begin Quest Ventures in Singapore. Since 2010, Quest has added over 40 companies to its portfolio, including Carro, Carousell, 99.co, ShopBack, and Glife.”
Quest Ventures is a launch partner of the Education 4.0 Alliance in Vietnam. Russ Neu, Venture Partner for Impact, signed the memorandum of understanding at the ceremony during the Ho Chi Minh City Innovation, Startup and Entrepreneurship Week.
“Trong khuôn khổ Tuần lễ Đổi mới sáng tạo và Khởi nghiệp TP.HCM (WHISE) lần 3 năm 2019 tổ chức mới đây đã diễn ra Hội thảo “Kỹ năng sẵn sàng cho tương lai và Liên minh Giáo dục 4.0”. Tại hội thảo cũng diễn ra lễ ký kết hợp tác giữa các thành viên trong Liên minh Giáo dục 4.0 và giữa liên minh với các tổ chức tham gia thí điểm.
Tháng 12-2019, liên minh sẽ tổ chức các chương trình đối thoại về những mục tiêu phát triển bền vững ứng dụng bằng công nghệ với sự tham gia của Quest Ventures (Quỹ đầu tư của Singapore).”
Quest Ventures joins Vertex Ventures, Gobi Southeast Asia and Golden Gate Ventures to provide commentary to SCMP’s look at how Chinese money is driving Southeast Asia’s tech startup scene.
“Other investors saw branching into Southeast Asian start-ups as a form of “risk mitigation”, said James Tan, managing partner of Quest Ventures.”