Cocoon Capital is looking for early stage Southeast Asian startups in the deeptech, fintech, and medtech verticals

Left to right: Cocoon Capital Associate Sia Zong Xi, Co-Founder and Managing Partner Will Klippgen, Co-Founder and Managing Partner Michael Blakey.

Singapore-based venture capital firm Cocoon Capital today announced the launch of its new US$20 million fund for early stage Southeast Asian startups in the deep tech, fintech, and medtech sectors.

The fund targets 25 to 30 investments, with a broader geographic focus to include emerging economies such as Vietnam, Myanmar, the Philippines, and Indonesia. The ticket sizes are up to S$1 million (US$727,000).

In a press statement, Cocoon Capital said that it is “limiting” the number of investments it is doing per year, with the goal to ensure a “more active” role by the firm in supporting the portfolio companies.

“With the billions of dollars available in venture capital in the region, only a fraction is targeting seed-stage companies and Cocoon Capital seeks to help fill this gap,” said Cocoon Capital Co-Founder and Managing Partner Will Klippgen.

“The funding gap is even more prevalent outside Singapore, which is why we are expanding our presence into neighbouring countries like Vietnam, Indonesia, and the Philippines, all of which having tremendous potential,” he added.

Also Read: Cocoon Capital appoints renowned branding consultant Martin Roll as senior advisor

Investors in the fund include Vulpes Innovative Technologies Investment Company (owned by Singapore-based hedge fund manager Steve Diggle), Martin Hauge (Partner in Creandum, streaming giant Spotify’s first financial investor), Playfair Capital (UK-based seed fund), Jani Rautiainen (Co-founder of PropertyGuru), Martin Roll (Global strategy consultant and bestselling author), Oliver Tonby (Chairman of McKinsey’s offices in Asia, excluding China) and Michelle Yong (Director of Singapore’s Aurum Investments).

The launch of the fund followed a US$7 million fund the firm launched in 2016.

The first fund’s portfolio includes SensorFlow, a cleantech startup that aims to reduce energy consumption in commercial buildings, and See-Mode Technologies, a medtech startup that predicts the change of recurrent strokes.

It also named Hapz, Poundit, Dexecure, and Hiip as their portfolio companies, and said that there will be more investments announced from the fund.

With co-founder and Managing Partner Michael Blakey, Klippgen has invested in Southeast Asia since 2004.

Their early investments include PropertyGuru, Anchanto, and Tickled Media.

Image Credit: Cocoon Capital

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