(Bloomberg) -- East Ventures, the investment firm that's backed some of the most valuable startups in Southeast Asia from Tokopedia to Traveloka, has raised a sixth fund focused on Indonesia.
The venture capital firm raised $30 million that will go toward seed capital and early-stage financing, it said in a statement.
East Ventures, founded in Singapore in 2010, was among the earliest technology investors in Indonesia. The VC firm has done 192 deals to date, or half of Indonesia's total tech deals, according to the company. They include online shopping site Tokopedia, which recently raised $1.1 billion in financing from Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and other backers, and Traveloka, which scored about $500 million from investors including Expedia Inc.
East Ventures-backed e-commerce company Kudo was acquired by ride-hailing giant Grab, while its ticketing startup Loket went to Go-Jek -- Grab's rival -- this year.
Its fundraising comes as venture capital investment surges in Indonesia, the world's fourth most populous nation. Deals there reached $3 billion in the first eight months of this year, compared with $1.4 billion for all of 2016 and $700 million in 2015, according to AT Kearney Inc.
“Three of the five unicorns in Southeast Asia are now based in Indonesia, and you cannot become a unicorn without the Indonesian market,” said Managing Partner Willson Cuaca. “We have been doing great in Indonesia and we want to continue this momentum.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Yoolim Lee in Singapore at yoolim@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Peter Elstrom at pelstrom@bloomberg.net, Edwin Chan
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