(Bloomberg) -- Indonesia-focused venture capital firm Alpha JWC Ventures has closed its third Southeast Asia fund at a record $433 million to back early-stage tech startups.
Morgan Stanley, the World Bank's International Finance Corp. and Li Ka-shing's private investment firm Horizon Ventures Ltd. are among investors in the latest fund. Alpha JWC now has $630 million under management and its first fund has garnered an internal rate of return of 37%, while its second has generated 87%. About 75% of participants in its previous funds backed the latest one, general partners Chandra Tjan and Jefrey Joe said in an interview.
The record early-stage venture fund in Southeast Asia underscores a pandemic-fueled boom in its startup scene. Three of the VC firm's portfolio companies hit the $1 billion valuation mark this year. They are buy-now-pay-later platform Kredivo, used-car marketplace Carro and stock trading app Ajaib.
“We have a big vision to help the rise of the digital economy in Indonesia and Southeast Asia,” Joe said. “We want to help founders to create a global company from Indonesia and put Indonesia on the map.”
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Co-founded by Tjan and Joe in 2015, Alpha JWC has tried to differentiate itself as a focused regional VC firm that makes fewer, concentrated early bets on tech startups compared to some of its peers.
Alpha JWC will continue to seek investment opportunities in the broad tech industry including startups providing software-as-a-service as well as fintech and business-to-business services, Tjan said.
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