Heaptalk, Jakarta — East Ventures has partnered with Seoul-based venture capital firm SV Investment to launch the funds worth US$100 million, approximately Rp1.5 trillion.
The launch of this fund aims to unlock investment opportunities between the business ecosystem in Southeast Asia and South Korea, including capital injection, knowledge transfer, and expanding the business network. On the other hand, these investment firms would tackle the fund to inject promising startups in their primary sectors, such as biotech and healthcare, future mobility, green technology, and media.
The MoU signing activity was directly attended by the Indonesian Ambassador to the Republic of Korea, Gandi Sulistiyanto. During the agenda, he emphasized the significance of strategic collaboration between Indonesia, Korea, and beyond in creating an ecosystem of digital economy and startups. He further noted that a Division on Digital and Creative Economy in Indonesia’s Embassy is tasked to bridge Indonesian digital economy stakeholders and startups with Korean and other counterparts.
Simultaneously, Managing Partner of East Ventures, Roderick Purwana, conveyed, “This funding shows the strong synergy between East Ventures and SV Investment’s extensive experience in the South Korean market. For this reason, we will realize the great potential of forming the Indonesia – South Korea collaboration in accelerating the growth of the startup ecosystem in both countries,”
With both countries’ dynamic economies, these entities are poised to encourage the exchange of knowledge, resources, and expertise. As is known, Indonesia has a developing market and young technology-savvy talents. With the potential of South Korea, which has a track record of technological superiority and global reach, East Ventures believes these two countries could accelerate startup growth and continue to capture tremendous opportunities in Southeast Asia and beyond.
In partnership with SV Investment, the East Ventures South Korea fund will be managed collaboratively by leading venture capital firms from both countries to facilitate Korean tech startups and companies to attract foreign capital, promote overseas venture company IPOs, and exchange valuable expertise and know-how between the ecosystem.
On the other hand, within the SEA venture ecosystem, this endeavor is expected to provide investors with an opportunity to preemptively invest in SEA’s tech companies, which are likely to grow in the process of evolving from customers’ platform-based services to technology-intensive services.
Responding to the cooperation, Managing Partner of SV Investment, David Junghun, stated, “We observed a tremendous potential in Southeast Asia and believe in this country is the growth as the most significant economy in the region. This collaboration will unlock a gate for South Korean and Southeast Asian tech startups pushing hard to scale up in the global market and represent our goal to support them continuously.
Since its establishment in 2009, East Ventures has over 250 funded companies, with over 450 founders and 30 exits. During the company’s journey in 2022, East Ventures has disbursed capital over 80 times this year, with managed funds of US$960 million. The Partner of East Ventures, Melisa Irene, conveyed the company has an Asset Under Management (AUM) worth US$1 billion.
