Kickstart Ventures, the corporate venturing unit of Philippines-based telecommunications company Globe Telecom, is set to raise the size of its investments in growth-stage companies to up to $5m, DealStreetAsia reported on Monday.
Founded in 2012, Kickstart has until now invested $30,000 at seed stage in return for a 15% stake, and then contributed between $100,000 and $500,000 to subsequent early-stage rounds. It recently received $50m from its parent company for its latest fund.
Kickstart focuses on the fintech, educational technology, health technology, e-commerce, software-as-a-service, energy efficiency and storage, data security, spectral efficiency, and digital concierge sectors, focusing particularly on startups with a high social impact.
Kickstart expects the $50m fund to last between five and 10 years. Its current portfolio consists of 20 startups, including job search platform Kalibrr, health technology developer Mclinica and financial services provider Lenddo.