Venture capital firm 500 Global announced earlier in September the successful close of US$143 million across its largest Southeast Asian early-stage fund to date, 500 Southeast Asia III, L.P. (500 SEA III), and its growth investment vehicle for Southeast Asia. The new early-stage and growth vehicles demonstrate the team’s commitment to supporting founders in Southeast Asia from pre-seed to pre-IPO.
Limited partners (LPs) across its early-stage and growth investment vehicles include a sovereign wealth fund, public and private pension funds like Khazanah Nasional Berhad; Kumpulan Wang Persaraan (Diperbadankan), or KWAP; and Employees Provident Fund (EPF). A university endowment, family offices of prominent global investors, and portfolio companies valued at over US$1 billion from 500 Global’s first Southeast Asia early-stage fund have invested as LPs as well.
500 SEA III is 500 Global’s third Southeast Asia-focused early-stage fund, with each successive fund having nearly doubled in size since 2014. Originally targeted for US$75 million, 500 SEA III closed at US$100 million with over half of the fund coming from returning LPs.
The early-stage fund will focus on investing in businesses and AI-enabled technologies that advance rural digitalization, sustainable cities, human and machine productivity, healthcare, food security and financial inclusivity. 500 SEA III aims to invest in 100 pre-seed to Series A startups, providing first checks between US$250,000 and US$500,000 across Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore, and Indonesia.
Hazman Hilmi Sallahuddin, chief investment officer of Malaysia’s KWAP, said that its investment in 500 Global began in the latter’s early days through its second Southeast Asia early-stage fund.
“500 Global has since grown considerably in strength to a multi-stage investment platform and remains instrumental in securing co-investment opportunities for KWAP,” he said. “We are encouraged by its efforts in developing the regional venture capital ecosystem, and look forward to the successes that our ongoing collaboration will bring in optimizing KWAP’s investment returns.”
Dato’ Amirul Feisal Wan Zahir, managing director of Khazanah Nasional Berhad, added that in line with their fund’s Future Malaysia Program they are “excited about their potential to facilitate the market expansion of startups via their Southeast Asia platform, with the anticipation of creating new global champions.”
500 Global’s past Southeast Asia investments have included US$5 million-US$20 million checks in Series C to D rounds of portfolio companies such as Carousell, Carsome, and, most recently, eFishery. Also, 500 Global has in the past invited their LPs to co-invest alongside them in select opportunities. The team is expanding its growth investing capabilities with the new vehicle.
“We have seen our platform produce a pipeline of high-quality growth stage opportunities which we can underwrite with the added diligence of knowing the companies and founders over the years,” Vishal Harnal, managing partner at 500 Global, shared. “While we developed our growth stage capability investing over the years, we have also added resources and new partners in line with our aim to support founders from pre-seed to pre-IPO.”
Christine Tsai, CEO and founding partner of 500 Global, added that their firm, with a global portfolio of over 2,800 companies across more than 80 countries, believes that founders in Southeast Asia will benefit from “one of the few truly global venture platforms with deep local roots and in-market expertise.”
“We’re confident that with access to insights, connections, and capital, this can help the next generation of Southeast Asian founders build global tech giants,” she added.
