Vertex marks final close of new India, Southeast Asia-focussed fund

By Joseph Rai

  • 19 Sep 2019
Credit: Thinkstock

Vertex Venture Holdings Ltd, an early-stage venture capital firm backed by Singapore state investment firm Temasek Holdings, has marked the final close of its new fund focused on Southeast Asia and India.

Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia and India said in a statement that its fourth fund has made the final close at $305 million (about Rs 2,170 crore). This is higher than the hard cap of $280 million.

The fund had crossed its original target corpus when it had achieved the first close in May at $230 million.

The fourth fund is backed by both existing and new Limited Partners (LPs) including sovereign wealth funds, financial institutions, corporate houses and family offices across Asia and Europe, the statement said. Roque Velasco, managing partner at Galdana Ventures, is one of the existing LPs.

The new fund will continue with its strategy to make Series A bets across enterprise technology, financial technology and consumer internet segments. It aims to start deploying the capital by the end of the year.

In an interview with VCCircle recently, Vertex managing partner Ben Mathias had said the fund would continue to do three-four investments per year in India.

The investment firm’s debut India and Southeast Asia fund of 2010 vintage and the second fund of 2014 vintage were fully funded by Temasek via Vertex Venture Holdings. Its third fund had surpassed the target corpus to mark the final close at $210 million in October 2017.

Vertex has made more than 40 investments across the region and is completing its last remaining investments from the third fund, it said.

In May, Vertex invested in women-focussed reseller platform GlowRoad.

In March, Vertex led a Series C round in its existing portfolio firm InstaReM Pte. Ltd.

Last year, its new bets in India included OnEMI Technology Solutions Pvt. Ltd , which runs digital lending startup Kissht; Hansel Software Pvt. Ltd, which operates real-time mobile app management platform Hansel.io; and Delightful Gourmet Pvt. Ltd, which operates online meat and fish ordering platform Licious.

Vertex's other investments in India include online services marketplace Housejoy, online travel agency Yatra and SaaS-based customer experience management platform CloudCherry.

Vertex Venture Holdings is also an anchor investor in its other regional focused funds—Vertex Ventures China, Vertex Ventures USA and Vertex Ventures Israel. It also has two other funds—Vertex Ventures HC and Vertex Growth.

Last week, Vertex Venture Holdings, raised a $290 million venture capital fund targeting investments in high-growth technology firms.

*This article has been modified to correct the size of the fund in the second paragraph.