Singapore-based venture capital firm True Global Ventures (TGV) has made the final close of its fourth fund at more than $100 million, the firm announced on Wednesday.
TGV 4 Plus, a blockchain-focused equity fund, was launched in 2019 with its general partners pitching in the initial $12 million, TGV partner Kelly Choo told DealStreetAsia. After completing two investments, the fund started raising capital from limited partners in the third quarter of 2019.
The fund had raised around $23 million by the end of 2020, Choo said. It raised the rest of its corpus this year as blockchain and non-fungible tokens (NFT) gained currency among institutional investors.
TGV 4 Plus will make Series B and C investments in blockchain companies, specifically in four verticals: entertainment, infrastructure, financial services, and data analytics and artificial intelligence (AI).
It will write cheques of $1.5 million to $4 million for initial investments, while follow-on investments can go up to $10 million. The fund has a mandate not to invest more than $10 million in a single company. In addition, it will only invest in startups founded by entrepreneurs with prior experience in setting up and exiting a business.
About 20% of the fund has either been deployed or earmarked for follow-on investments so far. The fund expects to invest in up to 20 companies and will be fully deployed within three years.
The fund has made five investments so far: blockchain gaming and NFT company Animoca Brands; Forge Global, a private marketplace for secondaries; metaverse The Sandbox; crypto miner Canada Computational Unlimited; and AI asset manager QuantumRock.
TGV’s 40 partners contributed 27% of the total corpus of the blockchain fund. Limited partners, including family offices, angel investors, and institutional investors, made up the rest.
One of the high net worth individuals (HNWIs) backing the fund is Jay Liang, the managing partner of OES Capital Group and GSR Matrix Fund, and the founding chairman of the Hong Kong Blockchain Association.
This was the first TGV fund that sought to raise capital from external investors, partner Beatrice Lion said.
Choo, who joined TGV in 2015, said the fund is focused on blockchain because it is a “natural extension” of the VC’s focus on fintech, given that many payment solutions are compatible with blockchain technology. The firm was also encouraged by the rising demand for blockchain collectibles such as crypto kitties.
TGV was started in 2010 in Sweden by entrepreneur Dusan Stojanovic. He moved the firm to Singapore in 2015 with the aim of launching a third fund focused on fintech with an “Asian flavour,” which was launched in 2016.
The VC invests in companies across the world but is headquartered in Singapore because of its friendly regulatory environment and openness toward blockchain technology, Choo said.
The fund focuses on later-stage deals because companies have started to see some traction for their products and services and are beginning to think global. “That’s where … our network can actually help them,” he said. “If it’s too early, typically they only focus on their own country or region.”