Company type | Private Limited |
---|---|
Industry | Venture Capital |
Founded | 2011 |
Founder | James Tan, Wang Yunming |
Headquarters | Singapore |
Area served | Southeast Asia |
Website | www |
Quest Ventures (formerly QuestVC) is a venture capital firm founded in 2011 by James Tan and Wang Yunming in Beijing, China. [1] [2] The firm mainly focuses on digital commerce investments and has an office in Singapore. [3] The firm deploys funds across Asia in countries such as Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Indonesia. Quest Ventures is also the largest anchor tenant at JTC Launchpad. [4]
In 2011, James Tan and Wang Yunming, cofounders of Nasdaq listed 55tuan, [5] launched a venture fund to focus on investments in China and Southeast Asia. The firm is active in supporting the operations of its portfolio companies. Quest Ventures is a partner of the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC), [6] co-investor of the Cradle Fund, [7] an approved mentor partner for investments of Enterprise Singapore, [8] and is an iJAM investment partner with the National Research Foundation of Singapore. [9]
In 2017, Quest Ventures was the title sponsor of the Quest Ventures-EDGE National Youth Entrepreneurship Awards. [10]
In 2020, Quest Ventures announced a partnership with ScaleUp Malaysia Accelerator to invest in Malaysian startups. [11]
As of 2022, Quest Ventures has launched 3 thematic funds and invested in more than 100 companies around the world. [12] [13] [14]
The firm invests primarily in early-stage digital commerce startups that are based in Southeast Asia. It invests in the “seed” and “series A” stage. [15] The company characterizes digital commerce startups as companies that have “scalability and replicability in large internet communities.” [16]
Quest Ventures has invested in more than 100 companies since its founding, including Carousell, BILLZ, 99.co, Burpple, Watch Over Me, ShopBack and NodeFlair in Southeast Asia. [17] [18] Vulcan Post has described James Tan, Managing Partner of Quest Ventures, as an investor with the Midas touch. [19] The firm is typically the first investor in startups, and primarily looks at the team of founders when making an investment decision. [20]
500 Global is an early-stage venture fund and seed accelerator founded in 2010 by Dave McClure and Christine Tsai. The fund admitted a first "class" of twelve startups to its incubator office in Mountain View, California in February 2011. They expanded to a second class of 21 in June 2011 and a third class of 34 in October 2011. 500 Global has $2.3 billion in assets under management (AUM) as of March 2024.
Fenox Venture Capital was an American venture capital firm, headquartered in San Jose, California. The company worked with emerging technology companies worldwide and served a bridge for global startups seeking entry into American, Asian, European and Middle Eastern markets.
ShopBack is a cashback reward program available across the Asia-Pacific (APAC). It allows online shoppers to receive a small percentage of their purchases on the platform, paid for through affiliate programs by the merchant. The platform also provides coupons, voucher codes, product comparison, QR code payment, and most recently, buy-now-pay-later. It has 30 million users.
Chope is a real-time restaurant-reservation booking platform that connects diners with its partner restaurants. The name “Chope” was inspired by the term chope spoken colloquially in Singapore. Chope charges restaurants fixed and per-diner fees for the use of its table booking system.
Carousell is a Singaporean smartphone and web-based consumer to consumer and business to consumer marketplace buying and selling new and secondhand goods. Headquartered in Singapore, it also operates in Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. Carousell is available on both iOS and Android devices.
Glints is an online job recruitment platform headquartered in Singapore. The company was founded in August 2013 by Oswald Yeo, Looi Qin En and Seah Ying Cong. Through the website, users can apply for internships, full-time, part-time or project based positions with partnered companies.
Oddup is a data-driven research platform that provides analytical information on startups, their trends, and both current and expected future valuations. It is self-styled as The Startup Rating System and the company states its vision is to disrupt equity research in private companies.
Asia Venture Group Sdn Bhd (AVG) is a private holding company investing in digital businesses. AVG invests in early stage companies, and has since inception, co-founded 4 companies: iMoney, TrustedCompany, iprice and HappyFresh. The company focuses on digitally scalable business models in Southeast Asia.
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.
Nium is a Singapore-headquartered cross-border payments company. Initially founded by Prajit Nanu and Michael Bermingham, and launched as a consumer-remittance platform Instarem in 2014. In 2016, the company introduced its B2B payments platform and rebranded as Nium in 2019, subsequently elevating Pratik Gandhi to co-founder in 2021. However, Gandhi left Nium in October 2023, around the time Nium's Chief Product Officer also left the company and Nium announced a layoff of over 10% of its global staff.
Tenity is a startup incubator, accelerator and early-stage VC founded in 2016 in Zürich focused primarily on Fintech, Insurtech, Regtech and Deeptech. It provides incubation and acceleration programs helping startups to connect with corporates, experts, mentors, and investors for early stage venture and late stage venture investing, and collaboration opportunities. The company currently has operating hubs in Zürich, Singapore, Madrid, and Tallinn.
Business Angel Network of Southeast Asia (BANSEA) is an angel investment network based in Singapore that provides information to potential investors about newly established businesses. The stated goal of BANSEA is to create business opportunities for angel investors, and aid in the development of profitable business networks.
Livspace, is a home interior and renovation company headquartered in Singapore. It provides interior design and renovation services in Singapore and India. The company was founded in 2014 by Anuj Srivastava and Ramakant Sharma and has raised funding of $450 million.
Tech in Asia is a Singapore- and Jakarta-based technology news website covering topics on startups and innovation in Asia. Backed by Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin in 2015, it has hosted annual conferences across the continent primarily in Singapore, Tokyo, and Jakarta since 2012.
Gushcloud International is a global influencer, entertainment, and talent acquisition company. It is headquartered in Singapore and began in 2011.
Pine Labs is an Indian company that provides point of sales systems and payment systems, founded in 1998. The company has a valuation of over US$5 billion.
Ganesh Kumar Bangah is a Malaysian serial entrepreneur, technology industry leader and startup investor. He is the founder of MOL Global and Commerce.Asia. He was named the Ernst & Young Technology Entrepreneur of the Year Malaysia in 2002 and at the age of 23, was certified by the Malaysia Book of Records as the youngest Chief Executive Officer of a Malaysian public listed company. He was recognized as one of Southeast Asia's Top 30 Tech Founders by Tech In Asia in 2016 and one of the Most Inspiring Malaysian Technology Entrepreneurs by Top 10 of Malaysia. Within the local tech community, he is also known as “Malaysia’s Bill Gates”, a fact affirmed by the Malaysia's oldest newspaper, the New Straits Times.
DealStreetAsia is a Singapore-based financial news website, founded in 2014 by Joji Thomas Philip.
ZhenFund is a Beijing-based venture capital firm founded in 2011 by New Oriental co-founders Bob Xu and Victor Wang. It is considered one of the largest angel investors in China.
Helicap is a Singapore-based fintech and investment company. It specialises in the private credit market in Southeast Asia.