Golden Gate Ventures & Hanwha Asset Management Announce Southeast Asia Partnership To Invest In "Series B" Stage Startups
Golden Gate Ventures, a leading venture capital firm in Southeast Asia, and Hanwha Asset Management, a global asset manager headquartered in Seoul, have announced a partnership to invest together in Southeast Asia's "Series B" stage startups.
SINGAPORE, March 19, 2019 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Golden Gate Ventures, a leading venture capital firm in Southeast Asia, and Hanwha Asset Management, a global asset manager headquartered in Seoul, have announced a partnership to invest together in Southeast Asia's "Series B" stage startups.
Golden Gate Ventures is an investment firm headquartered in Singapore. Since 2012 they have been investing in early-stage consumer-focused technology companies in Southeast Asia. Hanwha Asset Management is a leading global asset management company with US$80B in AUM and has been investing in growth stage deals globally. The firms will invest together on consumer-centric platforms and services, such as marketplaces, financial inclusion technologies, tech-enabled healthcare, and logistics-as-a-service platforms.
Why Now
According to Preqin's data (See Figure 1), Southeast Asia startups are facing a Series B funding gap. Even as the number of regional startups searching for Series B funding grows, there is still little to no venture capital funds capable of filling that gap. Startups seeking Series B financing often find themselves in the difficult position of syndicating rounds from multiple Series A investors or appealing to alternative, often unconventional sources of later- stage capital, such as family offices and global PE buyout firms.
In the US and Europe, according to SVCA, 50% Series A-funded companies receive Series B funding. In contrast, the rate of follow-on financing in SEA was less than a third for the same cohort. This meaningful decline can be largely attributed to a lack of growth-stage funding within the region (see Figure 2).
Golden Gates Ventures' proprietary database of deal tracking shows over 215 Series A deals in the past 24 months. Based on the aforementioned historical trends, Golden Gate Ventures and Hanwha Asset Management expect anywhere from 80-110 Series B investment opportunities to be available over the next 2 years alone and believe this number may double within four years.
Golden Gate Ventures + Hanwha Asset Management
The partnership of Golden Gate Ventures and Hanwha Asset Management stems from their five-year history of investing together, beginning in 2014 and the earliest days of the emergent Southeast Asian startup ecosystem.
The two firms bring unique and complementary assets to the table. The partnership will access Hanwha Asset Management's global network of corporate and investment partners, as well as its experience and resources of managing US$80B in assets. Golden Gate Ventures brings its operational expertise and top-tier brand as one of the region's oldest and most-respected investment funds.
Golden Gate Ventures has invested in such regional powerhouses as Redmart, Carousell, Carro, Funding Societies, and Ruma (now Go-Pay); equally significant, large US technology companies, such as Stripe and AngelList, have also sought partnerships with Golden Gate Ventures, for regional expertise, market intelligence, and direct investment. Across the globe, Hanwha Asset Management has been equally active especially in the venture growth stages, investing in notable startups such as Zymergen, N26, Yanolja, and Grab.
Together, they will invest in technology platforms that can take advantage of the region's rapidly growing middle class; accelerating rates of internet, mobile phone, and technology penetration; and ballooning online consumer spending. These consumer platforms and services, whether in mobility, commerce, or logistics, are capturing unique data on the long tail of consumers and micro-merchants, and will serve as the starting point for financial inclusion, technology-enabled healthcare, and other new, innovative industries across Southeast Asia.
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About Golden Gate Ventures
Golden Gate Ventures is an early-stage VC fund in Southeast Asia (SEA) founded by Silicon Valley natives. Since 2011, Golden Gate Ventures has launched three funds with over US$175 AUM. The firm focuses on investing in consumer internet and mobile startups in Southeast Asia. Breakout companies include Carousell ("Mobile Classifieds 3.0"), Alodokter (HealthTech), Carro (Auto Marketplace), Funding Societies (P2P Lending), and Omise (Payment Processing).
http://goldengate.vc
About Hanwha Asset Management
Hanwha Asset Management is a leading global asset management company that offers a full range of financial investment products in equities, fixed income, alternatives and multi- asset strategies targeting the capital markets globally and manages $80 billion in AUM as at March 2019 with offices in Korea, China, Singapore, Vietnam, and the US. Hanwha Asset Management is a subsidiary of Hanwha Group, a Fortune 500 Company with 61 domestic affiliates and 325 global networks in three major sectors: financial services, manufacturing and construction, and services and leisure.
http://eng.hanwhafund.co.kr
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SOURCE Golden Gate Ventures
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