Singapore-based venture capital firm Golden Gate Ventures has achieved a $65m first close for a $100m fund, with limited partners including conglomerate Hanwha and internet company Naver, TechCrunch reported yesterday.
The fund will target startups based in Southeast Asia and is expected to achieve a final close by the end of 2018. Its LPs also include Singaporean state-owned investment firm Temasek, VC firm Mistletoe and Eduardo Saverin, co-founder of social media company Facebook.
Golden Gate Ventures currently has 44 companies in its portfolio. Its recent investments include classified listings platform Carousell, automotive e-commerce marketplace Carro, peer-to-peer lending platform Funding Societies and concert crowdsourcing service MyMusicTaste.
The firm’s exits include e-commerce platform Lazada’s $50m acquisition of online grocer Redmart in 2016, and app prototyping tool developer Woomoo, which was acqui-hired by travel booking service Priceline for an undisclosed sum the same year.
The latest fund will adhere to the firm’s existing strategy of backing early-stage startups, and Golden Gate has also promoted principal Justin Hall to partner.
Naver, Temasek and Saverin had previously backed Golden Gate’s last fund, which was closed at an oversubscribed $60m in 2016.