Diversified Philippines-based conglomerate JG Summit Holdings has launched a $50m corporate venturing fund dubbed JG Digital Equity Ventures (JG DEV).
The fund will invest in startups located in Southeast Asia that can link up to JG Summit’s existing businesses, and is exploring opportunities in the consumer, new media, data, logistics, financial services and digital health sectors.
JG DEV will provide between $1m and $10m in funding per company and intends to invest at series A and B stage. Its portfolio companies already include consumer data platform developer Snapcart, online loan provider Cashalo and retail technology producer Growsari.
BJ Sebastian, who moved from chief strategy officer of JG Summit to head of its digital and strategic investments group in September 2018, is leading JG DEV as CEO.
The unit’s other key figures are chief operating officer Ian Estrada, chief technology officer Caesar Morata and chief financial officer Mara Utzurrum. It will collaborate with an investment committee headed by JG Summit president and CEO Lance Gokongwei.
Estrada said: “Our approach here is that we want to not just invest, but we also want to build ventures ourselves. The typical model is you either just invest in a startup or you operate one.
“In our case we want to do both under the same entity, to give our ventures and investments room to grow independently while maximising the ecosystem advantages from our existing businesses.”
