The Radical Fund, an early-stage, climate-focused investor headquartered in Bangkok, has announced the first close of its first Southeast Asia vehicle, receiving backing from several high-profile regional family offices.
The firm did not disclose the amount it raised but its founder, CEO, and managing partner Alina Truhina told DealStreetAsia in an interview in May that the first close is likely to be about $7 million.
The Radical Fund is targeting a $40 million final close and is in conversations with family offices, corporates, foundations, and institutional investors, according to the announcement. It has so far received commitments from family offices from the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand, together with individual investors from the US and Europe.
The firm primarily backs early-stage ventures (pre-seed to pre-Series A, plus follow-on) in emerging markets, with an average ticket size ranging from $250,000 to $500,000.
“We invest regionally, and at the earliest stages of VC, because we need to build an ecosystem, and a pipeline, of climate-oriented companies with solutions that are appropriate and localized for the Southeast Asia markets,” Trihuna said.
Truhina has co-founded two other impact funds since 2017 — the Founders Factory Africa Funds 1 and 2.
The Radical Fund currently has a six-member team in Southeast Asia, with offices in Singapore and Thailand. It plans to hire team members in the Philippines, Vietnam, and Indonesia.
The company is eyeing a slew of investments and is in due diligence with companies from Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Philippines. It is looking to announce its first investment in Q3 this year.
Some of the sectors the firm is looking at are food systems, agritech, energy and the built environment, circular economy, waste and water management, and even those that may not “look” like climate tech but have a significant impact on people such as health, mobility, and logistics.
The company claims to be seeing an increased appetite and appreciation for funds that are climate or sustainability-focused, especially from second generations of family offices, foundations, and impact investors.
“Southeast Asia is one of the most adversely affected regions of the world when it comes to climate change, and yet investment is still predominantly going toward US and European ventures,” Truhina stressed.
The Radical Fund is part of the Utopia Capital Management (UCM) group of investment vehicles, which have supported over 130 early-stage ventures across multiple emerging markets.