East Ventures
| Venture capital firm | |
| ISIN | 🆔 |
| Founded 📆 | 2009 |
| Founder 👔 | |
| Headquarters 🏙️ | , Jakarta, Singapore, Tokyo |
Area served 🗺️ | Canada, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand, USA, Vietnam |
Key people | Willson Cuaca (Co-Founder & Managing Partner), Batara Eto (Co-Founder & Managing Partner), Taiga Matsuyama (Co-Founder & Managing Partner), Melisa Irene (Partner) |
| Members | |
Number of employees | |
| 🌐 Website | east |
| 📇 Address | |
| 📞 telephone | |
East Ventures is an early stage venture capital firm managed primarily by Indonesian partners, with offices in Jakarta, Singapore, and Tokyo. The firm mainly focuses on new technology startups in Southeast Asia and Japan.[1][2]
Since its inception in 2009[3], East Ventures has invested in more than 400 companies globally[4] and has raised over $257.5 million from its limited partners[5][6].
East Ventures is one of the most active venture capital investors in Southeast Asia[7][8] with an active portfolio of 140 startups[9]. The VC firm has co-invested with multiple investors in some of the largest fundraisings in Indonesia: Tokopedia (USD $2.4 billion), Traveloka (USD $850 million), Grab (USD $8.8 billion),Warung Pintar (USD $35.5 million), Moka (USD $27.9 million), CoHive (previously called EV Hive) (USD $23.5 million), and Fore Coffee (USD $9.5 million).[10]
As of 2019, East Ventures’ portfolio of companies has cumulatively raised US$3.5 billion.[11] It was recognised by Crunchbase as one of the top eight seed investors worldwide in Q3, 2018.[12]
Co-founders and managing partners[edit]
East Ventures was co-founded by Willson Cuaca, Taiga Matsuyama, and Batara Eto. All three continue to serve as managing partners at the firm.[13]
Cuaca, from Indonesia, has experience in building his own technology products. He founded startups Foyage and Apps Foundry in 2008 and 2010 respectively. A Computer Science graduate from Binus University, he also has a background in IT infrastructure strategy and cyber security.[14]
Matsuyama began his career in college by helping launch Yahoo Japan. He also worked at Accenture as an analyst[15], but is most well-known for being the founding partner of Kronos Fund and director of Bit Valley Association, prior to co-founding East Ventures.[16]
Japan-based Eto, who leads most of the fund raising, was born in Indonesia. Before East Ventures, he co-founded and served as CTO at Mixi, a Japanese social networking site which went public in 2006 at a valuation of US$1.6 billion.[17]
In January of 2019, East Ventures appointed its first female partner, Melisa Irene. Irene joined the firm in 2015 as an associate, right after graduating from Binus International University.[18][19]
Investments[edit]
East Ventures specializes in seed, early stage, and series A investments. As such, its funding rounds are small by design, ranging from US$100,000 to US$500,000 per investment.[20] The firm has invested in over 400 companies[21] since 2009, primarily in Indonesia and Japan.[22][23]
Referred to as one of the earliest VCs to focus on Indonesia[24][25], the venture capital firm has been said to buck the norm by choosing to invest in companies built by young, first-time founders, with a median founder age of 24 as of 2013. In its early years, this was coupled with a penchant for making quick deals, signed within days.[26]
An additional key differentiator is its focus on Indonesia, where East Ventures advocates a single-market strategy to raise more money in the startup company’s early years. This is unlike other startups in Southeast Asia where regional domination is important.[27]
East Ventures’ first investment was Indonesian consumer-to-consumer (C2C) e-marketplace Tokopedia in 2010, a deal which closed just 48 hours after the team met with co-founder William Tanuwijaya. The same thing happened with the online travel agency Traveloka, which East Ventures invested in after an initial meeting in 2012. The case was similar with e-commerce facilitator startup Kudo, a payments platform that East Ventures invested in on the day of its pitch.[28]
Another of its early investments was the daily deals site Disdus, which East Ventures sold to Groupon less than four months later in February of 2011. This was its first successful portfolio exit and helped establish East Ventures’ subsequent exit track record.[29]
Tokopedia and Traveloka have also gone on to become two out of Indonesia’s four 'unicorn' startups (with valuations of US$1 billion or more)[30][31][32], while Kudo was acquired by Southeast Asian ride-hailing company Grab in 2017 in a deal that was reportedly worth more than US$100 million in cash and equity.[33]
While East Ventures began with a focus on e-commerce, it has since ventured into business-to-business (B2B), Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), and online-to-offline (O2O) companies, as well as media, education, artificial intelligence, fintech, and new consumption, among others.[34][35][36]
In the last few years, East Ventures has further diversified by investing in startups that it incubated in-house. These are EV Hive (now known as Cohive), a co-working space operator which has raised over US$23.5 million[37]; Warung Pintar, which recently raised US$27.5 million in a series B funding round[38]; the O2O coffee startup Fore Coffee, which delivers 300,000 cups of coffee a month, in just 4 months since the firm released its mobile app.[39]
East Ventures Alpha[edit]
In 2011, East Ventures announced the launch of East Ventures Alpha, a 100-day startup accelerator program. As part of the initiative, companies received free office space, seed funding, and mentoring, as well as an opportunity to pitch before a panel of venture capitalists and angel investors.[40] The first batch of companies (Promoote, Whappa Games, Buzzle, Red Eclipse, MacaMoco, and Velmery) graduated in January of 2012.[41]
EV Growth[edit]
Still recognizing the low number of Indonesian startups that go on to secure series B funding rounds and higher, East Ventures launched the EV Growth fund in March of 2018. A joint venture between East Ventures, SMDV, and Yahoo Japan, its goal to date is to “focus on startups that have reached growth and post-revenue stages, tapping on the funding, networking, and experiences that the three VC firms have.”[42][43]
EV Growth has raised US$200 million oversubscribed fund, from LPs that include SoftBank Group, Pavilion CapitaI, and Indies Capital. It exceeds the initial target of US$150 million. It expects to invest at ticket sizes of US$5 million or more in 20 to 30 startups in the fund’s first stage.[44][45]
Media and recognition[edit]
East Ventures was one of the top active seed investors worldwide in Q3, 2018.[46]
In May of 2019, Tech in Asia also recognized East Ventures as the most active venture capital firms in Southeast Asia, with 68 deals taking place over the 24 months leading up to publish.[47]
According to data from Preqin, the fund is among the top performing in the world. East Ventures is one of six firms worldwide to have three funds ranked in Preqin’s top quartile; that puts it alongside names like Benchmark Capital, while it is the sole representative from Southeast Asia in that category.[48]
References[edit]
- ↑ "Company Overview of East Ventures". Bloomberg. Retrieved 2 June 2019.
- ↑ "Homepage". East Ventures. Retrieved 17 June 2019.
- ↑ "East Ventures". Tech in Asia. Retrieved 2 June 2019.
- ↑ "9 Key Facts About East Ventures". East Ventures. Retrieved 17 June 2019.
- ↑ "East Ventures". Crunchbase. Retrieved 17 June 2019.
- ↑ Lee, Yoolim. "SoftBank Joins Record Indonesia-Focused Growth Venture Fund". Bloomberg. Retrieved 2 June 2019.
- ↑ "Southeast Asia's Most Active Tech Investors". CB Insights. Retrieved 17 June 2019.
- ↑ Freischlad, Nadine. "10 of Indonesia's most active venture capital firms". Tech in Asia. Retrieved 17 June 2019.
- ↑ "Portfolio". East Ventures. Retrieved 17 June 2019.
- ↑ "East Ventures". Crunchbase. Retrieved 17 June 2019.
- ↑ Muskita, Putra. "How East Ventures became a top venture capital firm in Southeast Asia". Tech in Asia. Retrieved 2 June 2019.
- ↑ Rowley, Jason D. "The Q3 2018 Global VC Report: New Records Hit Amid Seismic Shift In The Industry". Crunchbase. Retrieved 2 June 2019.
- ↑ Muskita, Putra. "How East Ventures became a top venture capital firm in Southeast Asia". Tech in Asia. Retrieved 2 June 2019.
- ↑ "Willson Cuaca". Linkedin. Retrieved 2 June 2019.
- ↑ "Taiga Matsuyama". Linkedin. Retrieved 2 June 2019.
- ↑ Cheong, Hui Min. "Is a shift towards Japanese hardware startups happening? Hear from Takafumi Horie and Taiga Matsuyama at Tech in Asia Tokyo 2015". Tech in Asia. Retrieved 2 June 2019.
- ↑ Muskita, Putra. "How East Ventures became a top venture capital firm in Southeast Asia". Tech in Asia. Retrieved 2 June 2019.
- ↑ Mulia, Khamila. "East Ventures appoints its first female partner". KrAsia. Retrieved 2 June 2019.
- ↑ Maulani, Anisa Menur A. "A decade of innovation: How East Ventures is building Indonesian tech ecosystem from the ground up". e27. Retrieved 17 June 2019.
- ↑ "Company Overview of East Ventures". Bloomberg. Retrieved 2 June 2019.
- ↑ "9 Key Facts About East Ventures". East Ventures. Retrieved 17 June 2019.
- ↑ "East Ventures". Crunchbase. Retrieved 2 June 2019.
- ↑ "Portfolio". East Ventures. Retrieved 17 June 2019.
- ↑ Sarah, Lacy. "Ask a VC in Indonesia: Is East Ventures Early or Crazy? [TCTV]". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2 June 2019.
- ↑ Russell, Jon. "EV Growth closes $200M fund to cover Southeast Asia's Series B funding gap". TechCrunch. Retrieved 17 June 2019.
- ↑ Muskita, Putra. "How East Ventures became a top venture capital firm in Southeast Asia". Tech in Asia. Retrieved 2 June 2019.
- ↑ Russell, Jon. "EV Growth closes $200M fund to cover Southeast Asia's Series B funding gap". TechCrunch. Retrieved 17 June 2019.
- ↑ Muskita, Putra. "How East Ventures became a top venture capital firm in Southeast Asia". Tech in Asia. Retrieved 2 June 2019.
- ↑ Russell, Jon. "EV Growth closes $200M fund to cover Southeast Asia's Series B funding gap". TechCrunch. Retrieved 17 June 2019.
- ↑ Cinthyana, Liviani. "A Brief Look At 4 Unicorn Startups in Indonesia". Indonesia Tatler. Retrieved 17 June 2019.
- ↑ Harsono, Norman. "What are unicorn companies?". The Jakarta Post. Retrieved 17 June 2019.
- ↑ "List of unicorn startup companies". Wikipedia. Retrieved 17 June 2019.
- ↑ Freischlad, Nadine. "Grab confirms it will acquire Kudo to boost digital payments". Tech in Asia. Retrieved 2 June 2019.
- ↑ "East Ventures". Crunchbase. Retrieved 2 June 2019.
- ↑ Mamgain, Pramugdha. "New consumption is the investment theme in 2019, says East Ventures' Cuaca". DealStreetAsia. Retrieved 17 June 2019.
- ↑ Tani, Shotaro. "Indonesian startup to cure ills with wellness ecosystem". Nikkei Asian Review. Retrieved 17 June 2019.
- ↑ Muskita, Putra. "How East Ventures became a top venture capital firm in Southeast Asia". Tech in Asia. Retrieved 2 June 2019.
- ↑ Russell, Jon. "Warung Pintar raises $27.5M to digitize Indonesia's street vendors". TechCrunch. Retrieved 17 June 2019.
- ↑ Akhaya T., Prisca. "Fore Coffee raises an additional US$1M, aims hyper-expansion in Indonesia". e27. Retrieved 17 June 2019.
- ↑ Martin, Rick. "East Ventures Announces 100-day Start-up Accelerator Program". Tech in Asia. Retrieved 2 June 2019.
- ↑ Kevin, Joshua. "East Ventures Alpha Graduates Its First Batch of Startups". Tech in Asia. Retrieved 2 June 2019.
- ↑ Maulani, Anisa Menur A. "East Ventures, Yahoo! Japan Capital, and SMDV launch EV Growth". e27. Retrieved 17 June 2019.
- ↑ Pereira, Stephanie Francesca. "The corporates are here". KrAsia. Retrieved 17 June 2019.
- ↑ Russell, Jon. "EV Growth closes $200M fund to cover Southeast Asia's Series B funding gap". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2 June 2019.
- ↑ Suzuki, Wataru. "Southeast Asia's seed investors bulk up for 'mega' fundraising". Nikkei Asian Review. Retrieved 17 June 2019.
- ↑ Rowley, Jason D. "The Q3 2018 Global VC Report: New Records Hit Amid Seismic Shift In The Industry". Crunchbase. Retrieved 2 June 2019.
- ↑ Bot, TIA. "These are the most active investors in Southeast Asia's startups". Tech in Asia. Retrieved 2 June 2019.
- ↑ Russell, Jon. "EV Growth closes $200M fund to cover Southeast Asia's Series B funding gap". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2 June 2019.
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