Indonesia-based conglomerate Sinar Mas is considering financing the second fund of venture capital affiliate SMDV from its own balance sheet, potentially running it as an internal family office vehicle, DealStreetAsia has reported.
Founded in 2014 as Sinar Mas Digital Ventures, SMDV operates independently to Sinar Mas and targets financial returns rather than strategic investments. It has built a portfolio that includes e-commerce software provider Sirclo and digital payment platform developer Omise.
The second fund would be open ended and would not have a target size, though it could potentially deploy over $500m, sources told DealStreetAsia. Roderick Purwana, then a managing partner at SMDV, told DealStreetAsia in January this year it had intended to raise capital from the Sinar Mas family for the vehicle.
The moves comes as VC firm East Ventures’ Growth Fund, the vehicle founded in 2018 as EV Growth, a partnership between SMDV, East Ventures and internet company Yahoo Japan, is targeting a $350m close for its own sophomore fund, sources told DealStreetAsia.
EV Growth Fund II launched earlier this year and is set to wrap up fundraising in the first quarter of 2022. It will focus on investments at series B stage or later across Southeast Asia with a particular focus on Indonesia, where East Ventures itself is based.
East Ventures took control of managing the firm in March this year, doing away with its previous co-general partner structure. The team subsequently joined East Ventures, as did Roderick Purwana, who maintained his managing partner position when moving to the firm.
EV Growth Fund I had closed in December 2019 with $250m in commitments from limited partners such as internet and telecommunications group SoftBank, Temasek, Indies Capital, Pavilion Group and other state-backed investors and family offices.
Fund I’s investments include ride hailing service Grab, which recently listed through a reverse merger; e-commerce marketplace Traveloka, which has merged with ride hailing unicorn Gojek; and online beauty retailer Sociolla, reported last month to be in talks to raise up to $150m at a valuation of over $1bn.
