Investments

Altara Ventures launches SEA Tech-focused USD100 million Fund

Altara Ventures, the Singapore-based venture capital firm led by former DBS chairman Koh Boon Hwee, has reportedly launched a USD100 million debut fund focused on early-stage tech investments in Southeast Asia.

The newly-founded firm is made up of five general partners, namely the aforementioned Koh Boon Hwee of DBS notoriety; Tan Chow Boon and Seow Kiat Wang, former partners at private equity fund Credence; Gavin Teo, former general partner at B Capital; and Dave Ng, also formerly of B Capital and Southeast Asia head at Eight Roads, according to an article by Finews Asia.

Koh Boon Hwee, Founding Partner, Altara Ventures, said: “We are former entrepreneurs, business builders and seasoned investors and know what it takes to scale and exit.”

Altara Ventures has reportedly already secured around half of its USD100 million target corpus so far, according to Gavin 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, as reported in an article by Deal Street Asia.

Altara will invest in early-stage tech companies and dole out cheques in the range of USD3-5 million to start-ups across sectors such as FinTech, e-commerce and marketplaces, logistics, HealthTech, EdTech and enterprise tech (B2B/SaaS) in Southeast Asia, says Deal Street 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.

Dave Ng, Founding Partner, Altara Ventures, said: “The level of international investments into Southeast Asia is going to increase even more with ongoing global trade dynamics between geopolitical powers. That’s going to continue to boost the ecosystem here,” as reported in an article by Bloomberg.