Diversified Malaysia-based conglomerate Sunway is raising $50m for a corporate venture capital vehicle, the New Straits Times reported on Tuesday.
Sunway initially announced plans for the vehicle through a stock exchange filing without disclosing financial details. It plans to put up $5m for the unit, dubbed Sun Sea Capital, according to the Times, and the filing stated it will pursue external funding.
Sun Sea, an entity that could be related to Singapore-based internet group Sea, is the general partner for the fund, which will target deals around the series A stage with a ticket size of $1m and $3m.
Prospective portfolio companies will be based in Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam or Hong Kong and working in areas such as online-to-offline services, enterprise software, logistics, entertainment, digital health and financial technology.
Koichi Saito and Kuan Hsu, co-founders and general partners of internet and mobile-focused VC fund KK Fund, have been signed up by Sun Sea Capital as consultants.
Sunway formed a corporate venturing unit called Sunway Ventures in May 2017 but it has not disclosed any investments. The company’s non-profit incubator, Sunway Innovation Labs, admitted its first participants in March this year.