Venture capital (VC) is a form of private equity financing provided by firms or funds to startup, early-stage, and emerging companies, that have been deemed to have high growth potential or that have demonstrated high growth in terms of number of employees, annual revenue, scale of operations, etc.. Venture capital firms or funds invest in these early-stage companies in exchange for equity, or an ownership stake. Venture capitalists take on the risk of financing start-ups in the hopes that some of the companies they support will become successful. Because startups face high uncertainty, VC investments have high rates of failure. Start-ups are usually based on an innovative technology or business model and they are often from high technology industries, such as information technology (IT), clean technology or biotechnology.
SoftBank Group Corp. is a Japanese multinational investment holding company headquartered in Minato, Tokyo which focuses on investment management. The group primarily invests in companies operating in technology that offer goods and services to customers in a multitude of markets and industries ranging from the internet to automation. With over $100 billion in capital at its onset, SoftBank's Vision Fund is the world's largest technology-focused venture capital fund. Fund investors included sovereign wealth funds from countries in the Middle East.
Sequoia Capital is an American venture capital firm headquartered in Menlo Park, California which specializes in seed stage, early stage, and growth stage investments in private companies across technology sectors. As of 2022, the firm had approximately US$85 billion in assets under management.
William Klippgen is a Singapore-based Norwegian entrepreneur and technology venture capitalist who co-founded the price comparison portal Zoomit.com. He served as one of the judges on the television series Angel's Gate, which was broadcast on Channel NewsAsia in 2012. Klippgen is a co-founder and serves as the Managing Partner at Cocoon Capital. He holds an MBA from INSEAD where he is an Entrepreneur in Residence.
Flipkart Private Limited is an Indian e-commerce company, headquartered in Bangalore, and incorporated in Singapore as a private limited company. The company initially focused on online book sales before expanding into other product categories such as consumer electronics, fashion, home essentials, groceries, and lifestyle products.
DigiSpice was an Indian conglomerate headquartered in Singapore. The company operates in the sectors of telecom, finance, entertainment and technology. They operate internationally in Los Angeles, New York, Kuala Lumpur, London, Dubai, Nepal, Bangladesh, Uganda, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka and Shenzhen.
GOQii is an Indian fitness technology company, headquartered in California that offers a wearable fitness band with a mobile-app, and personalised remote health coaching. The company was founded by Vishal Gondal, the former CEO & Founder of Indiagames. After closing its beta Beta program in April 2014, GOQii became commercially available in India in August 2014. The company has offices in Mumbai, India and Shenzhen, China and plans to expand its services to the Middle East, the United States, and Singapore. Investors include Sumeru Ventures, Animoca Brands, Mitsui, NEA, Megadelta, DSG Consumer Partners, Galaxy Digital, Denlow Investment Trust, Edelweiss, Cheetah Mobile, GWC, Mr Ratan Tata, Mr Akshay Kumar and Mr Vijay Shekhar Sharma.
Fintech, a clipped compound of "financial technology", refers to firms using new technology to compete with traditional financial methods in the delivery of financial services. The use of smartphones for mobile banking, investing, borrowing services, and cryptocurrency are examples of technologies designed to make financial services more accessible to the general public. Fintech companies consist of both startups and established financial institutions and technology companies trying to replace or enhance the usage of financial services provided by existing financial companies.
Paytm is an Indian multinational financial technology company, that specializes in digital payments and financial services, based in Noida, India. Paytm was founded in 2010 by Vijay Shekhar Sharma under One97 Communications. The company offers mobile payment services to consumers and enables merchants to receive payments through QR code payment, Payment Soundbox, Android-based-payment terminal, and online payment gateway. In partnership with financial institutions, Paytm also offers financial services such as microcredit and buy now, pay later to its consumers and merchants.
Grab Holdings Inc. is a Singaporean multinational technology company headquartered in One-North, Singapore. It is the developer of a super-app for ride-hailing, food delivery, and digital payment services on mobile devices that operates in Singapore, Malaysia, Cambodia, Indonesia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam.
Vijay Shekhar Sharma is an Indian technology entrepreneur and multimillionaire business magnate. He is the founder chairman, and managing director of One97 Communications founded in 1997 and its consumer brand Paytm which he started in 2010.
Vertex Venture Holdings, also known as Vertex Holdings, is an investment holding company with a group of venture capital funds worldwide. A subsidiary of Temasek Holdings, the company focuses on venture capital investment opportunities in the information technology and healthcare markets through its global family of six direct investment venture funds. Vertex provides anchor funding and operational support to these funds. Each fund has its own General Partners and investment teams, focusing on different regional markets. Its six funds are based across Southeast Asia and India, United States of America, China and Israel.
PT Gojek Indonesia is an Indonesian on-demand multi-service platform and digital payment technology group based in Jakarta. Gojek was first established in Indonesia in 2009 as a call center to connect consumers to courier delivery and two-wheeled ride-hailing services. Gojek launched its application in 2015 with only four services: GoRide, GoSend, GoShop, and GoFood. Valued at US$10 billion today, Gojek has transformed into a super app, providing more than 20 services.
Funding Societies is a Southeast Asian digital financing platform for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), headquartered in Singapore. It was the first such platform in Singapore to engage an escrow agency to independently and safely manage investors’ funds. In Indonesia it is known as Modalku. Since its launch, it has disbursed more than US$2.6 billion in business financing to MSMEs through more than 5.1 million loan transactions.
Paytm Payments Bank (PPBL) is an Indian payments bank, founded in 2017 and headquartered in Noida. In the same year, it received the license to run a payments bank from the Reserve Bank of India and was launched in November 2017. In 2021, the bank received a scheduled bank status from the RBI.
PT Trinusa Travelindo, operating as Traveloka is an Indonesian technology company focused on travel and ticketing. Operating a services website of the same name and based out of Jakarta, Indonesia, Traveloka is active in six countries, and in 2022 remained the largest online travel app in Southeast Asia. Founded in 2012 as a travel search engine, it now also offers services such as attraction tickets, activities, transportation rentals, and restaurant vouchers. It also provides financial services such as credit and insurance. Classified as a unicorn company and regarded as functionally similar to Expedia, in 2022 it was valued approximately at US$3 billion.
Axiom AsiaPrivate Capital is a private equity investment firm, focusing exclusively on the Asia Pacific region. The firm was established in 2006 and currently manages seven separate funds, with a total commitment of over $7 billion. The founders previously worked at GIC Private Ltd. The investment firm has offices in Singapore and Taipei and Shanghai.
One97 Communications Ltd is an Indian multinational technology company, headquartered in Noida. It was founded in 2000 by Vijay Shekhar Sharma. Through its subsidiaries and businesses, the company offers digital payment and financial services to consumers and merchants in India. It also provides mobile advertising, marketing and payments for merchants.
Tan Yinglan is a Singaporean venture capitalist and author. He is the CEO and Founding Managing Partner of Insignia Ventures Partners.
Carro is an online marketplace for buying and selling new and used cars headquartered in Singapore and operates in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Japan, Taiwan and Hong Kong.
