Wavemaker Partners' fourth fund closes at US$136m; appoints new leaders
DEEP-TECH investor Wavemaker Partners announced on Tuesday (Mar 8) that it has closed its fourth fund at US$136 million and has new role appointments in its South-east Asia team.
The fund has surpassed Wavemaker's US$120 million fundraising goal and brought the firm's total assets under management to over US$300 million.
This fund is focused on early stage enterprise, deep tech and sustainability startups in South-east Asia. Wavemaker's previous fund raised US$111 million.
The fund was anchored by returning investors Temasek, Pavilion Capital, the International Finance Corporation and Vulcan Capital.
So far, the firm has delivered more than 10 exits amounting to a total enterprise value of over US$700 million. Indonesian point-of-sale system Moka, which was acquired by Gojek, and cloud communications software company Wavecell, which was acquired by 8x8, are among these exits.
Portfolio companies included agri-tech startup eFishery, e-commerce platform Growsari and GudangAda, and crime-detecting artificial intelligence company Silent Eight.
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Since 2012, Wavemaker has invested in more than 170 companies, with 85 per cent in enterprise, deep tech and sustainability.
"We are grateful to our limited partners who have believed in us and stayed with us over the past 10 years, and we welcome the new investors who have decided to take the leap with us," Wavemaker managing partner Paul Santos said.
Joining Santos on the team is Melissa Ho, who has been newly promoted to principal. She will lead the investment team and sit on the boards of portfolio companies.
Ho joined Wavemaker in September 2018 and previously served as the vice-president for investments, covering markets in Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Bangladesh and Australia.
The firm on Tuesday also announced the appointment of Phuong Tran as the vice-president for investments and country head for Vietnam. She will lead investments for Wavemaker in Vietnam.
Like Ho, Tran previously worked at Wavemaker as a senior associate. She had prior experience as a member of Vietnamese venture capital platform, VinaCapital Ventures, where she sourced and executed seed and Series A deals.
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