Openspace Ventures rebrands as Openspace Capital, launches two new funds
The equity growth offering seeks to tap MAS’ EQDP, while the private credit strategy presents companies with more options for capital
[SINGAPORE] Venture capital firm Openspace Ventures has rebranded as Openspace Capital, and is launching two new funds focused on equity growth and private credit.
The equity growth market fund, called the Orbit Listed Growth Fund, intends to tap the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s (MAS) Equity Market Development Programme (EQDP). It will be launched in partnership with Australian fund manager Perennial Partners, with the aim to get companies to list on the Singapore Exchange (SGX).
Shane Chesson, founding partner of Openspace Capital, noted that Perennial brings in “perspectives from another market with some comparability, which is the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), but with a busier initial public offering (IPO) pipeline”.
The Australian firm has expertise in small and mid-cap trading as well, added Chesson, who is also a member of MAS’ Equity Markets Review Group, under the markets workstream.
Udhay Furtado, a Citibank and Goldman veteran, will lead the Orbit fund as chief investment officer.
While the fund has no sector-specific focus for now, the pipeline includes companies in the financial services, health, software and consumer spaces.
These are not just tech firms; Chesson emphasised that they all have a strong artificial intelligence angle, with an implementation strategy. “As the technology becomes a lot better, it needs to come into the listed space,” he said.
The Orbit fund will leverage Perennial’s experience in Australia, where the stock exchange has more pension fund investors and mid-market IPOs. From professional services to software firms, different types of companies are on the ASX, and the way IPOs get funded there could be brought to bear in the Singapore market, Chesson said.
While Openspace is keeping mum about the size of the Orbit fund, fund managers that were appointed under the EQDP received between S$300 million and S$400 million from the scheme.
Openspace’s second new offering is a private credit fund named Onyx Growth Credit, with a target of US$200 million. The fund will deploy credit in the range of US$15 million to US$30 million.
The firm’s head of credit, Omesh Fabiani, will lead the Onyx fund.
Chesson noted that a private credit fund is about providing options to companies which need growth capital, but may not want to raise funds using equity.
“If a company is thinking about how to get (itself) into a scale and size to achieve a great IPO outcome, I think it’s great to have access to both growth equity and growth credit solutions,” he said.
