Financial services firm Siam Commercial Bank has committed to the $20m first close of Dymon Asia Ventures, a venture capital fund formed by hedge fund Dymon Asia, TechCrunch reported yesterday.
The bank provided the capital through its financial technology-focused corporate venturing vehicle, SCB Digital Ventures.
Dymon Asia Ventures plans to back between 15 and 20 startups operating in the fintech space, with Southeast Asia of particular interest.
Dymon Asia launched the fund to get more exposure to early-stage technology and to take advantage of potential in the space, partners Jinesh Patel and Christiaan Kaptein told TechCrunch.
The fund will provide between $300,000 and $3m from seed-stage to series B and has “significant reserves” for follow-on rounds, they said. Dymon Asia Ventures has targeted a $50m close and intends to raise the full amount in the next year.
Dymon Asia Ventures has already invested in five companies: blockchain asset management platform Otonomos, peer-to-peer lending startup Capital Match, foreign exchange technology developer 4XLabs, trading platform Spark Systems and networking service WeConvene.
Kapstein said: “Our investors are strategic in nature so the fund is an extension of that network. Our LPs are also looking at companies which helps us. We have always been in this sector so our old networks traverse into this fund.”