Sep 24, 2020

September 24, 2020 Altara Ventures has launched its $100 million debut fund to focus on early-stage tech investments in Southeast Asia. The Singapore-based firm also unveiled its team of five general partners comprising Koh Boon Hwee , Tan Chow Boon, Seow Kiat Wang, Gavin Teo and Dave Ng, who collectively hold extensive investment experience from B Capital, Credence Partners and others across Silicon Valley and Asia. Teo and Ng were former colleagues at B Capital, where they invested in several dozen venture and growth-stage companies such as Atomwise, AImotive, Carro, Icertis and NinjaVan in Asia and the US. Both also played key roles in the setting up of B Capital’s international presence, with Teo founding its San Francisco office and Ng doing the same for its Singapore entity via which it launched into Asia. Koh Boon Hwee, Tan Chow Boon and Seow Kiat Wang were former partners at Credence Partners, and also former founders of Omni Industries, which eventually did an IPO and subsequently exited to Celestica for S$1.6 billion in 2001. The trio have also been active angel investors in the region, having invested in over 100 companies such as Alteon Networks, FreeCharge, Razer, and StashAway, among others. “We think of Benchmark capital as an example of the type of firm that we aspire to be. This is a firm that has six general partners and they’ve been at it for the last 35 years or so, and have never raised more than $500 million at any point in time. But they’ve consistently backed the top decile companies in every cycle,” explained Teo in an interview with DealStreetAsia. Altara Ventures has already secured about half of its $100 million target corpus so far, according to Teo. Its anchor limited partners (LPs) include a financial services institution, a publicly-listed tech company, and a prominent family office. All are from the Southeast Asian region. Altara will invest in early-stage tech companies and dole out cheques in the range of $3-5 million to startups across sectors such as fintech, e-commerce and marketplaces, logistics, healthtech, edtech and enterprise tech (B2B/SaaS) in Southeast Asia. It has already begun deploying capital, having invested in three companies – Filipino digital bank Tonik, Indian digital lender StashFin, and American computer vision firm Senseye. It plans to invest about three-quarters of the capital in Southeast Asia and the rest in other parts of the world. Altara Ventures derives its name from the English word Altitude and the Bahasa word Nusantara, which is the historical term for Maritime Southeast Asia. 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We want reporters who can tell our readers what is really happening in these sectors and why it matters to markets, companies and consumers. The ability to write precisely and urgently is crucial for these roles. Ideal candidates must have to ability to work in a collaborative, dynamic, and fast-changing environment. We want our new hires to be digitally savvy and ready to experiment with new forms of storytelling. Most importantly, we are looking for hard-hitting reporters who work well in a team. Collaboration and collegiality are a must. Following vacancies can be applied for (only in Singapore). Following vacancies can be applied for (only in Singapore). A reporter to track companies/startups that have raised private capital, and have the potential to become unicorns. SEA currently has over 40 companies with a valuation of over $100 million and under $1 billion. A reporter who can get behind the scenes and reveal how funding rounds are put together, or why they’ve failed to materialise. She/he in this role will largely focus on long-format stories. A journalist to track special situations funds, distressed debt and private credit (from the PE angle) across Asia. Singapore Reporter/s In Singapore, we are looking to double our reporting team by this year-end to comprehensively cover the fast-moving world of funded startups and VC, PE & M&A deals. We want reporters who can tell our readers what is really happening in these sectors and why it matters to markets, companies and consumers. The ability to write precisely and urgently is crucial for these roles. Ideal candidates must have to ability to work in a collaborative, dynamic, and fast-changing environment. We want our new hires to be digitally savvy and ready to experiment with new forms of storytelling. Most importantly, we are looking for hard-hitting reporters who work well in a team. Collaboration and collegiality are a must. Following vacancies can be applied for (only in Singapore). Following vacancies can be applied for (only in Singapore). A reporter to track companies/startups that have raised private capital, and have the potential to become unicorns. SEA currently has over 40 companies with a valuation of over $100 million and under $1 billion. A reporter who can get behind the scenes and reveal how funding rounds are put together, or why they’ve failed to materialise. She/he in this role will largely focus on long-format stories. A journalist to track special situations funds, distressed debt and private credit (from the PE angle) across Asia.