India, 16th June 2020: BEENEXT, Singapore-based venture capital firm, today announced that it has closed two new funds by raising a total of 160mn USD. The first fund, “BEENEXT Emerging Asia Fund” of 110mn USD will be focused on empowering early-stage start-ups and founders in India as well as South East Asia, to accelerate digital technologies led innovation and growth in the new normal across sectors. BEENEXT plans to allocate about 50% of the fund exclusively for the Indian start-up ecosystem and has been doing so consistently over the last three funds. The second fund of 50mn USD will be exclusively for SaaS businesses in Japan to accelerate digital transformation in each industry.
The newly launched India and South East Asia fund, “BEENEXT Emerging Asia Fund,” will target early-stage Indian start-ups in the e-commerce, fintech, health-tech, agri-tech, edu-tech and AI/data driven technology domains. BEENEXT has focused on India since its inception in 2015 having invested in 72 Indian start-ups. This marks the company’s 4th consecutive fund focused on India and biggest outside South East Asia. 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 digitization.
Speaking on this development, Teruhide Sato, Founder & Managing Partner, BEENEXT said, “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. Now more than ever, we feel the need to nurture the entrepreneurial ecosystem to ensure we bounce back as a strong community of founders. BEENEXT has always believed in building businesses together with founders and fellow local co-investors to have a lasting impact. We look forward to co-creating and growing together with more start-ups in India.”
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. The new funds are designed to connect founders from around the world to the BEENEXT founder’s community to gain networking and partnering opportunities with some of the industry’s best, and access global best practices. Staying true to BEENEXT’s founder-centric approach, the fund’s investors will also play a key role as a partner in with these start-ups to create strong businesses beyond the monetary commitments. Over the years, BEENEXT has built a vibrant global community of innovators and entrepreneurs that provides the much-needed network effects to create lasting impact.
Adding further, Teruhide Sato says, “ We have not paused our engagement with potential founders for even a minute and are continuing to increase our momentum to find talented leaders in India and elsewhere, building the next great products and solutions.”
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, Bank Open, YAP, Mobile Premier League, Trell, WorkIndia, Healthians, mfine, Servify, Fleetx, Cropin, MilkBasket, and so on. Some of its 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.
About BEENEXT
BEENEXT is a Venture Capital fund managed by serial entrepreneurs that focuses on assisting founders with its operational experience, network, trust, unique perspectives, and the capital. The team invests in early-stage tech start-ups that are focused on building the new digital platforms driven by the data network. BEENEXT aims to establish a platform of founders, by the founders and for the founders across the globe, primarily in South East Asia, India and Japan. Since its establishment in 2015, the team has invested in over 180 companies globally.