Southeast Asia’s technology-focused private equity firm Asia Partners is said to be seeking $600 million for its second fund, Mergermarket reported.
The firm has reportedly hit the first close of the vehicle at around $350 million.
DealStreetAsia has reached out to Asia Partners for comment.
The firm filed to raise Asia Partners II in April, about a year after it secured $384 million for its inaugural growth fund.
Last week, DEG, the investment arm of German state-owned development bank KfW, committed to investing $30 million in the new vehicle.
Asia Partners was launched in 2019 by six co-founders: Nicholas Avinash Nash, Jill Cheong Hsi Min, Pitra Ciputra Harun, Oliver Minho Rippel, Kien Nguyen, and Vorapol Supanusonti.
The firm is focused on the intersection of three key themes – the long-term growth potential of Southeast Asia, the rapid growth of innovative technology and technology-enabled businesses, and the scarcity of growth capital for these companies.
It has funded e-commerce businesses including Shopback, SCI Commerce and GudangAda, as well as omnichannel healthcare provider Doctor Anywhere, automotive marketplace Carsome, edtech company Snapask and online travel firm RedDoorz.
Asia Partners bets on the growth stage as the firm still sees an acute Series C and D gap in the market for $20-100 million cheques. It has also predicted 20 more unicorns from Southeast Asia will be minted by 2029, and at least half of these 20 companies will pursue IPOs over the next decade.
In total, the firm expects new and existing tech companies in Southeast Asia will create an additional $400 billion of incremental equity value by 2029.
Other growth funds with a tech focus in the market include Growtheum Capital’s maiden fund, which is targeting to raise $800 million, East Ventures’s second $400-million growth fund and Openspace Ventures’s OSV+ at $200 million.
However, fundraising at Southeast Asia-focused PE firms has been slow this year as investors tread with caution in an uncertain global economic environment. According to fundraising data tracked by DealStreetAsia – DATA VANTAGE, 2022 is likely to go down as the weakest for PE fundraising in Southeast Asia in the last five years.