Alpha JWC raises $433m in final close of third fund

Indonesia-focused venture capital firm Alpha JWC Ventures has raised US$433 million in the final close of its third fund. It’s the largest fund the firm has raised to date and takes its assets under management to US$630 million.

The VC firm claims that the fund secures its place as the largest Southeast Asian fund that targets early-stage companies.

Chandra Tjan (left) and Jefrey Joe, co-founders of Alpha JWC Ventures / Photo credit: Alpha JWC Ventures

The limited partners (LP) of the third fund include prominent companies, such as the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation, Morgan Stanley Alternative Investment Partners, Li Ka-Shing’s Horizons Ventures, and Taiwan-based CTBC Bank.

According to Alpha JWC, 75% of the LPs in the third fund are existing LPs that have invested in its first and second fund. Half of them are Asian investors, 30% are European and US investors, while the rest are Indonesian companies.

This year, Alpha JWC saw three of its portfolio companies cross the billion-dollar valuation mark to enter the unicorn club. These include buy now, pay later (BNPL) service Kredivo, automotive marketplace Carro, and investing app Ajaib.

The company said that it will also have one more unicorn before the end of the year. When asked during a media briefing about which startup that was, it refused to name the company. But the candidates for the next unicorn include coffee chain Kopi Kenangan, business-to-business marketplace GudangAda, consumer goods brand Lemonilo, and peer-to-peer lending platform Funding Societies.

Jefrey Joe, Alpha JWC’s general partner, said that the VC fund will stick to its mandate of investing in agnostic sectors in Southeast Asia, with Indonesia as the main focus. Despite the significant surge in fund size, the number of companies it will back will be similar to its previous funds.

That being the case, while the minimum ticket size for the fund is still around US$100,000, the maximum investment for a single company can reach up to US$60 million.

According to Joe, the focus on smaller portfolio sizes is what differentiates Alpha JWC from some players in the region who implement a diversification strategy and invest in more companies. The company only invests in around 25 companies per fund (or eight companies per year).

“The downside of the diversification strategy is the VC will have less time to spend with founders. For us, we want to double down in our partnership with founders and add value. That’s how the partnership between a startup and VC can be successful,” Joe said.