BEENEXT closes 2 new funds at USD 160 mn with focus on India, Japan

The first fund - BEENEXT Emerging Asia Fund - of USD 110 million (about Rs 837 crore) will focus on early-stage start-ups and founders in India as well as Southeast Asia. The newly launched BEENEXT Emerging Asia Fund will target early-stage Indian start-ups in the e-commerce, fintech, health-tech, agri-tech, edu-tech and artificial intelligence/data driven technology domains.

BEENEXT, a Singapore-based venture capital firm, on Tuesday said it has closed two new funds by raising a total of USD 160 million (about Rs 1,217 crore). The amount will be invested in companies in India, Southeast Asian countries and Japan, it said. The first fund - BEENEXT Emerging Asia Fund - of USD 110 million (about Rs 837 crore) will focus on early-stage start-ups and founders in India as well as Southeast Asia. BEENEXT plans to allocate about 50 per cent of this fund exclusively for the Indian start-up ecosystem and has been doing so consistently over the last three funds, a statement said. The second fund of USD 50 million will be exclusively for SaaS (software as a service) businesses in Japan to accelerate digital transformation, it added. The newly launched BEENEXT Emerging Asia Fund will target early-stage Indian start-ups in the e-commerce, fintech, health-tech, agri-tech, edu-tech and artificial intelligence/data driven technology domains. BEENEXT has focused on India since its inception in 2015 having invested in 72 Indian start-ups. This is its fourth consecutive fund focused on India and its biggest outside Southeast Asia. BEENEXT said it has allocated this significantly high portion as it believes in India's ability to lead innovation and growth in the post-COVID era of accelerated global digitisation.

"COVID-19 has impacted every aspect of global business, but we continue to see start-up founders pushing the boundaries to not only survive but thrive in this environment. The relentless attitude of founders will mean that solutions for a post-COVID world will also come from them," BEENEXT founder and Managing Partner Teruhide Sato said. The investors for this fund include major institutional investors in the US, along with Japanese corporations; global family offices; and entrepreneurs backing the next-generation founders. BEENEXT has invested in more than 180 start-ups across the globe. The firm's existing India portfolio of 72 companies include NoBroker, Droom, CitrusPay, BharatPe, Mobile Premier League, Trell, WorkIndia, Healthians, mfine, Servify, MilkBasket and others. Its other notable investments in Southeast Asia and Japan include Zilingo, (a digital platform for fashion), Vietnam's largest online marketplace Sendo, and Japan's largest HR SaaS company SmartHR.