Venture capitalist Wavemaker closes US$66m funding round

VENTURE capital firm Wavemaker Partners, which has a presence in Singapore, has closed its latest round of funding for South-east Asia at US$66 million, with support from the World Bank's International Finance Corporation (IFC).

This is 32 per cent higher than its original target of US$50 million.

IFC's US$10 million investment in the fund is part of a wider effort to support early-stage entrepreneurship, innovation ecosystems, and drive growth in Asia's emerging markets, the companies said in a joint statement on Friday.

Wavemaker has taken a differentiated approach in the region with more than 80 per cent of its investments in seed stage business-to-business (B2B) and deep technology companies. This has enabled it to attract leading global investors such as IFC and Singapore's Temasek.

Managing partner for Wavemaker Partners South-east Asia, Paul Santos, said: "We've come a long way since we started in Singapore five years ago. In many ways, we went through the same growing pains that startups do. Yet we are encouraged by the results we've achieved so far and the response to the fund by investors."

Wavemaker is an early stage cross border venture capital firm headquartered in Los Angeles and Singapore. The firm was founded in Los Angeles in 2003, and expanded to Singapore in 2012. It has over US$185 million of assets under management and realised five exits over the last two years.