Jungle Ventures raises $175mn from Temasek, IFC & others

Singapore-based venture capital (VC) firm Jungle Ventures has received commitments of around $175 million for its third VC fund, which may increase to $220 million over the next few months, according to two people aware of the development.

Around 90% of the $175 million came from institutional investors in North America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia, including investors like International Finance Corporation, DEG - Deutsche Investitions, Cisco Investments, Temasek Holdings, among others, according to the first person aware of the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

In its previous VC fund that was closed in 2016, Jungle Ventures had secured around $100 million in commitments from its limited partners, and another $12 million in 2012.

Founded in 2012 by Anurag Srivastava and Amit Anand, Jungle Ventures invests in technology and e-commerce start-ups in India and south-east Asia. The two were later joined by Jayesh Parekh, the co-founder of Sony Entertainment Television, and David Gowdey, the former operating partner at private equity firm TPG Growth.

Jungle Ventures has already made 5 new investments from its new fund where it led Series A & Series B rounds, said the first person aware of the fund’s operation. The firm invests in around 10-15 companies tech startups and software companies every year, specifically across Series A and B rounds. The fund is primarily focused on the South East Asian market.

Some of the venture’s recent India investments include Livspace, Engineer.AI, Tookitaki, Klinify, among others. The funds’ last eight investments globally in Southeast Asia have collectively reached over $500, according to the second person aware of the fund’s operations.

“Currently out of the new fund, Jungle have done five deals - two in Indonesia, one in Malaysia and our first investment in Vietnam. Selectively every year we find companies in India where we can help them expand into South East Asia or globally,” said the second person aware of the matter.

Three of the VC firm’s investments from its first fund—Zipdial, Travelmob, and Voyagin—were acquired by larger companies in the past. Mobile marketing start-up Zipdial was bought by Twitter in a deal worth an estimated $20-30 million in 2015. It has also sold its portfolio companies to internet giants including Rakuten, HomeAway, and iSelect in the past.

Jungle Ventures is one of the many early-stage VCs that have deepened focus in India. Investors including Sequoia Capital, Matrix Partners, Kalaari Capital, Accel Partners. Tiger Global has been scouting for investments across both seed stage and Series A rounds.

Mint reported on Monday that Tiger Global Management is likely to invest in as many as five SaaS (so​ftware-as-a-service) companies in India. While Sequoia recently dedicated a fund-cum-accelerator named ‘Surge' to make seed investments.