Despite a stock market crash shaking digital companies, Sequoia India and Sequoia Southeast Asia raised $2.85 billion across three funds to continue financing entrepreneurs in the region. Sequoia is introducing a specific Southeast Asian fund worth $850 million for the first time, while the Indian venture and growth funds will receive $2 billion.
“Today we are pleased to announce the launch of our first dedicated SEA fund, Sequoia SEA Fund I, an $850 million corpus that we will use to partner with the next generation of founders on a mission to build enduring companies from the region,” the firms said in the post.
Sequoia India has expanded its geographic reach to include Southeast Asia since its inception 16 years ago, betting on startups like Gojek and Tokopedia, which have merged to form GoTo Group, Indonesia's largest publicly traded internet company. Sequoia India and Southeast Asia today manages over $9 billion in assets.
According to Sequoia India, the firm has invested in over 400 startups across India and Southeast Asia, with 36 of them valued at more than $1 billion, including Byju's and Zomato Ltd. A total of 13 new firms have gone public.
Not every investment has paid off. After a probe into claims of financial irregularities, Sequoia-backed apparel firm Zilingo Pte removed Ankiti Bose as CEO last month. The board of directors has hired an independent financial adviser to look at the company's future options.
Sequoia Southeast Asia will continue to invest actively in companies across the region at the seed, Series A, and growth stages with the new fund, the company said in the blog.
“We will continue to bring our large portfolio specialist teams to partner with founders in their crucible moments. We will continue to support seed-stage companies and women founders with programs like Surge and Spark. And we will double down on initiatives to collaborate across our ecosystem,” Sequoia said.
The year 2022 marks Sequoia Capital’s 50th anniversary and our tenth year in Southeast Asia. The company said it was excited for what the next decade and beyond would bring.
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