With current economic uncertainties and geopolitical challenges, Ensure funding for newly established businesses in Asia has recently become more difficult. Business capital businesses They have also been influenced by recession, leading to a decrease in the number of closed funds.
The VC market “passes [one of its] Circular winters characterized by high interest rates, stricter liquidity and a cautious LP feeling, “said Akio Tanaka, a co -founder and associate of Headline Asia, in a VC company based in Tokyo and Taipei, in an interview.
However, the funds are still closed. Asia She said on Tuesday that she had completed one of her biggest chapters to date, Headline Asia Fund V, at $ 145 million to invest in technology businesses across Asia-Pacific. (Heading previously said that it targets $ 180 million for the fund.)
The last fund of the head is intended for the building -building companies aimed at digital transformation and cross -border businesses in Japan, Taiwan and Southeast Asia, with selective investments in South Korea. The leader invests early on-the-line control sizes ranging from $ 1 million to $ 5 million in e-commerce, logistics, fintech, IP and AI.
Supporters of the Fifth Fund of Headline Asia include a combination of public and private entities, including Japan Investment Corporation (JIC), the National Development Fund of Taiwan (NDF), Korea Venture Investment Corporation (KVIC) and Japanese Media.
Head’s new fund has already invested in 17 companies, including Newmo, a Japanese taxi and route startup. Jenfi, a Singapore -based company that provides funding based on digital business and newly established businesses in Southeast Asia. and Oil tankA Tokyo and Singapore -based start, which delivers NFC technology for traders to send evidence to their customers.
Some investors in Southeast Asia prefer to make safe investments that produce profits Instead of investing in high -risk technology companies in a provocative climate of funding. The leader aims to make investments that these investors will not.
“Early stage valuations are still where the most oversized yields are made,” Tanaka said, “especially in today’s exit environment, where the later stage valuations have been compressed and liquidity remains limited.”
Tanaka told TechCrunch that the business is particularly excited about Japan opportunities. In the past, most Japanese companies have focused on businesses on their local market, according to Tanaka. There were numerous iPO deals, though they were relatively small in size.
“Many start -up founders in Japan found it low -suspension fruit to make it public with a relatively small offer,” Tanaka added. “We are very interested in the world’s newly established businesses from Asia, whether they are Japanese startups, or perhaps Southeast Asia or the newly established North Asian businesses that go worldwide.”
Asia is part of the central world network, with regional offices in the US, Europe and Latin America. The VC has about $ 4 billion in management assets.
Founded in 2008, Headline Asia, which has supported more than 100 newly formed companies, manages about $ 420 million in assets in its five chapters. The company employs 10 investment professionals in Tokyo, Taipei and Singapore.
The closure of the head of the head comes to the heels of other VC concentration that focuses on Asia.
Antler closed the $ 72 million fund in Southeast Asia in August and Mindworks Capital, a VC company based in Hong Kong, completed a fourth Pan-Asia fund at $ 220 million In October. In November, Indonesia’s Intudo Intudo company secured $ 125 million in two capital, including $ 50 million for a fund to invest in natural resources and renewable energy.
