Cathay Innovation, a venture capital fund affiliated with Cathay Capital, has launched its 1-billion-euro ($1 billion) third venture fund, according to a statement by the firm.
Cathay Innovation Fund III has roped in several institutional investors as backers, including Sanofi, TotalEnergies, Valeo, BNP Paribas Cardif, Groupe SEB, Groupe ADP (Paris Aéroport) and others. This new global multi-stage fund will focus on sectors such as enterprise software, artificial intelligence (AI), fintech, digital health, tech-enabled consumer, new mobility, and retail and digital energy.
“We believe the time is now to accelerate digital transformation over the next 10 years as innovation represents the biggest opportunity to take on some of the world’s largest challenges,” said Denis Barrier, co-founder of Cathay Innovation.
“With Fund III, we have tailored investment theses for healthcare, finance, consumer, energy, mobility and logistics – investing in next-gen technologies that will be pervasive in global industries to deliver better, more efficient products and solutions addressing the needs of end customers. And this new generation of companies, larger and more sustainable than ever before, has the potential to have a greater impact on industries, society, and the day-to-day lives of people everywhere,” he added.
Cathay Innovation deploys globally and has made over 120 investments across Europe, North America, Asia, Latin America and Africa. It manages over $2 billion in assets under management (AUM), with offices across San Francisco, New York, Paris, Shanghai, Beijing and Singapore.
Its portfolio includes at least 19 unicorns, including Chime, Glovo, Ledger, Owkin, Momenta, Sidecar Health and ZenBusiness, with exits including the IPOs of Pinduoduo (Nasdaq) and Wallbox (NYSE) and the acquisitions of Glovo by Delivery Hero, Drivy by Getaround, Alkemics by Salsify and Trifacta by Alteryx.
In Asia, Cathay Innovation has invested in names such as Pinduoduo, Laiye, FinAccel, Igloo, KaiOS, LeadIQ and Momenta. The venture capital fund has been investing in Asia since 2015. It opened its Singapore office to look into Southeast Asia investments in 2020.
The launch of Cathay Innovation Fund III comes at a time several other venture capital firms are launching multi-stage funds, including Lightspeed Partners, Accel, Sequoia Capital India and White Star Capital.
Sequoia Capital India, in particular, recently did away with a dedicated fund for their seed-stage Surge programme, choosing instead to draw future Surge capital from their early-stage funds instead. The US venture capital investor closed a $2-billion early-stage, venture and growth fund for India, and an $850-million Southeast Asia fund last month.