Singapore-based venture capital firm Monk’s Hill Ventures has closed its first fund at $85m, securing networking equipment manufacturer Cisco, telecommunications firm Telstra and internet company Yahoo Japan as limited partners, DealStreetAsia reported yesterday.
The fund, which closed above the firm’s initial target of $80m, has also been backed by Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund Temasek. Monk’s Hill began raising capital for the fund in 2013.
Cisco Investments, the investment division of Cisco, and Temasek invested in July 2015, a month after Yahoo Japan’s corporate venturing division YJ Capital had done the same. Cisco’s investment was later revealed to be $10m.
Telstra Ventures, which acts as Telstra’s investment vehicle, supplied capital in February 2016. The amount was reported as AU$10m ($7m) at the time, but DealStreetAsia and other sources suggest it was in fact $10m.
The fund, which has invested in five startups to date, focuses on series A and B rounds for companies based in Southeast Asia. It targets startups operating in the cloud software, big data and analytics, internet of things, enterprise and mobility sectors.
Startups need to have raised at least $500,000 to $1.5m in earlier funding for Monks Hill to invest.