AC Ventures has secured 70% of the total fund target for its third fund, and has invested in nine Indonesian tech startups already
Indonesian early-stage tech investor AC Ventures announced the first close of its US$80M ACV Capital III L.P. Fund, signing 70% of the fund’s target, in a statement released by the firm today.
The firm has raised $56 million in the first close of the Fund, to be invested in 30 Indonesia-based ventures over the next three years, the statement said.
The Fund is geared towards early-stage Indonesian tech startups, aiming to make investments of up to $3 million across seed to Series A rounds, it added.
The statement noted that focus areas for AC Ventures’ third fund includes ecommerce, fintech solutions, enabling technologies for MSMEs, and digital media enabled services.
So far, AC Ventures has already made investments from the Fund in nine Indonesian tech startups including Shipper, Kargo, Stockbit, BukuWarung, ESB, Co- Learn, KitaBeli, Aruna and Soul Parking, that span across sectors comprising ecommerce, logistics, education and fintech, the statement said.
“Our goal is to utilize our combined resources to invest in scalable companies that tap into high-potential sectors, solving local problems through technology as well as empowering communities around us,” Managing Partner at AC Ventures Adrian Li said in the statement.
“Our fund equips us to continue creating exponential value for our portfolio founders through significant entrepreneurial, financial and operational support,” Li added.
Li also noted that limited partners for the Fund include “leading digital and strategic corporates, local Indonesian conglomerates, as well as technology entrepreneurs who have scaled billion dollar businesses.”
AC Ventures was founded through the merger of Agaeti Venture Capital and Convergence Ventures. Founding partners include Li, Michael Soerijadji and Pandu Sjahrir, Managing Director of Indies Capital, with whom the Indonesian investment firm has a strategic partnership. The alliance enables access to later-stage funding for portfolio companies.
The three founding partners have a combined experience of investments in more than 80 Southeast Asian early-stage tech startups, including PayFazz, and GO-JEK-acquired Moka POS.
“We are well positioned to back another generation of founders creating billion dollar businesses, having been an active member of the ecosystem and as seen by our excellent track record of companies that cover high-growth sectors and models,” Sjahrir noted in the statement.
AC Ventures is focusing strategically on Indonesian tech startups
AC Ventures currently has a team of 12 in Jakarta. The firm aims to grow its team to include a dedicated Portfolio Support Team, whose role will be to provide portfolio founders with resources and guidance over business development, C-level recruiting and follow-on fundraising, the statement noted.
Ultimately, AC Ventures aims to become a “generational partner” for tech startups in Indonesia and the rest of Southeast Asia, leveraging the firm’s industry insights, support services and global network.
To this end, the firm has also launched its Leadership Speaker Series featuring local leaders sharing advice on how to contend with the COVID-19’s economic and business impact.
Soerijadji said in the statement that the Indonesian tech startup ecosystem is at an inflection point for rapid large-scale growth.
“We continue to double down on Indonesia as it has established its potential of creating billion-dollar tech-enabled businesses, and is ripe for further growth as supported by long term structural changes,” such as a young rising middle class, growing broadband internet penetration and increasing industrial internet adoption, he said.
Indonesia is one of the largest ASEAN economies with a large but young population. Moreover, about 60% of its population use the Internet, and the archipelago’s Internet economy is expected to grow to $130 billion by 2025, three-times its size in 2019.
The country’s startup landscape is earmarked by unicorn successes, including Bukalapak, GO-JEK, Tokopedia, Traveloka, and Ovo, and the emergence of Jakarta as a startup ecosystem leader.
Header image courtesy of AC Ventures
