Openspace Ventures Pte Ltd
 | |
| Private | |
| ISIN | 🆔 |
| Industry | Venture capital |
| Founded 📆 | 2014 |
| Founder 👔 | Hian Goh Shane Chesson |
| Headquarters 🏙️ | , |
Area served 🗺️ | Southeast Asia: Indonesia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam |
Key people | Hian Goh Shane Chesson |
| Members | |
Number of employees | |
| 🌐 Website | Official website |
| 📇 Address | |
| 📞 telephone | |
Openspace Ventures is a Singapore-based venture capital firm founded by Shane Chesson and Hian Goh that invests in early-stage technology companies in Southeast Asia.
Openspace is best known for being an early backer of Indonesian ride-hailing unicorn Go-Jek.[1] A selection of its other investments includes fintech startup FinAccel, e-commerce player Love Bonito, restaurant booking service Chope, healthcare platform Halodoc, and Agritech company TaniGroup.[2]
Start as NSI Ventures[edit]
Goh, a serial founder in Southeast Asia, tapped Shane Chesson, a former investment banker at Citigroup, as his partner in developing a venture capital fund for Southeast Asian startups. The two then turned to Indonesia’s Northstar Group in 2014[3] for a strategic partnership in the hopes of gaining credibility with institutional investors.
The collaborative organization was called Northstar Silicon Island, or NSI Ventures for short. Despite an independent $89 million raise, many believed NSI to be a subsidiary of the Northstar Group.[4]
Rebrand and departure from Northstar[edit]
After three years, Northstar Group and NSI Ventures jointly announced the rebranding of NSI Ventures to Openspace Ventures in April 2018.[5]
Openspace received a Monetary Authority of Singapore (“MAS”) license and moved to an independent operating model in mid-2018. Goh and Chesson continued to lead the firm.
Openspace Ventures is one of the first fund managers to be licenced under the MAS’ simplified regulatory regime for venture capital managers.[6]
Portfolio and sectors of focus[edit]
Openspace Ventures specializes in Series A and B companies with a typical check size of $3 million to $5 million, and capital for follow-on deals.[7] The early-stage fund is focused on Southeast Asia technology opportunities that are accessing local, regional and global markets across fintech, healthtech, edtech, consumer and cloud-based applications.
Chesson said that in areas like healthcare, progress from startups has been “remarkable” while he sees “great opportunities” to develop new kinds of consumer-centric brands in e-commerce, both B2C and B2B.
Geographies and areas served[edit]
Openspace Ventures is active in Southeast Asian countries, with most of its investments made in Singaporean and Indonesian startups.
The target for their capital is Southeast Asia, a region of more than 650 million consumers where rising internet access is creating new opportunities for tech startups and internet-based businesses. It invested alongside Go-Jek in Bangladesh-based on-demand service Pathao,[8] for example. It also plans to utilize local teams in Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam and perhaps expand its network to more markets. Their most recent investment was in Thai startup Finnomena.
The organisation has a team of 20 people across 3 offices.
Portfolio[edit]
13 of its 25 investment deals have since secured follow-on funding.
Openspace Venture's second fund was raised in August 2018 with a hard cap of $135 million.[9] Though its co-founders had originally targeted a $125 million raise, the firm said it saw significant interest and so raised the additional figure to “embed deeper regional and operating capabilities” into its team. Returning LPs such as Temasek Holdings and StepStone Group were joined by new arrivals from Australia, Japan, and South Korea, marking increased interest and trust in Southeast Asia as a market.
The firm has backed 25 startups to date. That portfolio has raised over $3.8 billion in follow-on capital.
With a $90 million debut fund and its second fund from 2018, Openspace Ventures has more than US$225 million assets under management from a range of global and regional institutional investors. It is currently deploying capital from its second fund.
Growth and reputation[edit]
In 2017, Openspace was appointed to the Startup SG Equity Scheme by SGInnovate. In 2019, Openspace became an accredited partner of Enterprise Singapore’s SEEDS Capital program.
In 2019, Openspace Ventures was shortlisted for two AVCJ awards: Firm of the Year – Mid Cap for Openspace Ventures and Exit of the Year - IPO - for Whispir.[10]
References[edit]
- ↑ "Singapore: Openspace Ventures bullish on fintech, marketplace sectors". Deal Street Asia. October 17, 2018. Retrieved January 25, 2020.
- ↑ "Indonesian agritech startup raises $10m in series A round led by Openspace Ventures". Tech in Asia. May 29, 2019. Retrieved January 7, 2020.
- ↑ "Early Go-Jek investor NSI Ventures goes independent and rebrands to Openspace". TechCrunch. April 26, 2018. Retrieved February 16, 2020.
- ↑ "Exclusive: NSI Ventures closes debut fund at $80m, Temasek among investors". Deal Street Asia. October 8, 2015. Retrieved February 24, 2020.
- ↑ "Northstar unit NSI Ventures rebrands as Openspace, goes independent". Deal Street Asia. April 26, 2018. Retrieved February 27, 2020.
- ↑ "NSI Ventures to be Rebranded as Openspace Ventures". TechSauce. April 26, 2018. Retrieved February 13, 2020.
- ↑ "What makes a formidable founder? Venture capitalists weigh in". TechSauce. October 9, 2018. Retrieved February 13, 2020.
- ↑ "Go-Jek, Openspace inject money into Bangladesh's bike-hailing startup Pathao". e27. April 27, 2018. Retrieved February 25, 2020.
- ↑ "Singapore's Openspace Ventures closes new $135M fund for Southeast Asia". TechCrunch. August 14, 2018. Retrieved February 5, 2020.
- ↑ "SGInnovate appoints 17 co-investors to boost private investment into early-stage deep tech startups" (PDF). SG Innovate. December 13, 2017. Retrieved February 23, 2020.
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