Access Ventures Shares the Big Picture After Closing Its Second Fund

Hong Kong-based venture capital firm Access Ventures has completed a second fundraising campaign in early December worth of $30 million. Next year they plan to continue fundraising targeting around $50 million.

Charles Rim, General & Founding Partner of Access Ventures, told DailySocial, the company expects to launch some additional plans, especially after securing funding from Korea Venture Investment Corp. As the situation may improve and make it possible, it is expected that the plan will be finalized by the next quarter.

"We have invested in two startups in Indonesia this year (one of those is Andalin), and we're so close to finalizing the ongoing fundraising process," said Charles.

Aside from Vietnam, Indonesia is one of Southeast Asia's countries Access Ventures focuses on. It is a venture capital company focusing on early-stage startup funding. Apart from Andalin, they also invested in Akseleran, Kata.ai, RevivalTV, and Volantis.

Pandemic and Indonesia's startup ecosystem

About the pandemic effect on the growth of Access Ventures' startup portfolio business, Charles said, many startups are having problems running their business, not only those listed in the Access Ventures portfolio. On the other hand, he sees that this pandemic has created an acceleration in digitization which followed by good investment opportunities.

"Indeed, our portfolios will also benefit from this situation, and we have seen that. Investments in online education, esports, digital logistics, and lending are just a few examples," said Charles.

As the investor's most preferred Southeast Asia country, Indonesia has its own advantages. From the investor's perspective, Charles said the government has put bigger efforts and support by providing clarity of regulations to support the ecosystem. This has certainly had delivered quite a few bigger startups.

"However, the negative fact is that it has created competition and a ring for digital talent, this will result in the lack of talent that is necessary for most startups. It would be wise for the government and the education sector to promote studies in engineering and science," Charles said.

– Original article is in Indonesian, translated by Kristin Siagian