Kopi Kenangan co-founder raises US$12 million for Kopital Ventures’ first fund

JAMES Prananto, co-founder of Kopi Kenangan, one of Indonesia’s top coffee chains, has raised US$12 million for the first close of his maiden fund with investor Fandy Cendrajaya, under their venture capital (VC) firm Kopital Ventures.

Launched in partnership with Singapore-based Farquhar VC, Kopital Ventures will focus on early-stage investments across South-east Asia and offer a diverse investor base to its portfolio companies, the VC firm announced on Wednesday (Oct 25).

Prananto noted that Kopital Ventures originally started as an informal group of angel investors called the Kopital Network. It eventually turned into a VC firm to enhance value for investors, especially during the funding winter for tech startups.

“I felt that my experience as the founder of Kopi Kenangan and Fandy’s network in the tech ecosystem could be very valuable assets for early-stage founders.”

He highlighted access for early-stage startup founders to more experienced fellows as one unique proposition of their firm.

The US$12 million raised far exceeded their initial goal of US$5 million, with investments from international VC firms and family offices such as Saison Capital, Trihill Capital and Alto Partners Multi-Family Office.

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Cendrajaya added that Kopital Ventures not only injects funds into early-stage startups, but also connects them with global and regional investors for later-stage funding.

“We hope to be the first investors in the next wave of unicorns,” he said.