Cocoon Capital Prepares $20 Million for Investment to Early Stage Startups in Southeast Asia

A Singapore-based venture capital, Cocoon Capital, has announced fresh funding worth of $20 million for startup investment in Southeast Asia. They're focusing on startup in the enterprise-tech industry with vertical related to deep-tech, fintech, and medtech.

"We saw startup potential in this area with young and tech-savvy talents who understand how to use technology in solving real problems. The idea quality has exceeded what you imagined. Southeast Asia has proven to be the right path for innovation," Michael Blakey, Cocoon Capital's Co-Founder and Managing Partner said.

Cocoon Capital's market is early-stage startups. In addition to Singapore, they'll also expand to other countries, such as Vietnam, Philippines, and Indonesia. The decision's made because Cocoon Capital senses a gap in investment or funding for startups.

"Using billions of dollars from venture capital for this area, not many are targeting startups (early stage). Cocoon Capital intends to fill the gap. It's even more common outside Singapore, that's why we're expanding to the neighbor countries," Will Klippgen, Cocoon Capital's Co-Founder and Managing Partner, added.

Cocoon Capital is now supported by several investors, such as Vulpes Innovative Technologies Investment Company, Martin Hauge, Playfair Capital, and some others. In addition to providing assistance in funding, Cocoon Capital strives to take business experience and connect strategic partners for startups.

They have a limit for the amount of investment made per year, therefore, partners have more time to give support. In the latest portfolio, Cocoon Capital involved in PropertyGuru and Anchanto funding.

"Southeast Asia is proven to have the capability in making the best results [startups], unicorn, and almost unicorn; including Grab, Tokopedia, Go-jek, Razer, and PropertyGuru. The number of Startups has reached $8 billion in 2017, it increased three times from 2016. We predict the increase to continue in the next few years," he said.

– Original article is in Indonesian, translated by Kristin Siagian