Australian VC Square Peg raises $450m in its fourth fund

Venture capital firm Square Peg has announced the close of its fourth pool of venture capital at US$450 million, led by Australian institutions HostPlus and AustralianSuper. Other backers include Commonwealth Bank and Roc Partners.

(From left) The Southeast Asia team Ed Barker (Investment Associate), Piruze Sabuncu (Partner), and Tushar Roy (Partner) /Photo credit: Square Peg

The VC firm however didn’t mention which close of the fund this round was.

Square Peg invests in technology startups across Australia, Israel, and Southeast Asia with a focus on series A and B funding.

The VC firm intends to use the funds to ramp up its investments in Southeast Asia. It claims to have already invested over US$100 million into the region since its investment in online property group PropertyGuru in 2015.

“This fundraise represents an opportunity to deliver attractive returns to Square Peg’s limited partners, the majority of which are pension funds, family offices, and founders,” said Tushar Roy, Singapore-based partner at Square Peg. He added that there has never been a better time to invest in the Southeast Asian technology ecosystem.

The company’s investments in Southeast Asia include “buy now, pay later” platform FinAccel, healthtech platform Doctor Anywhere, roboadvisor StashAway, and micro-mobility service provider Neuron Mobility.

According to Square Peg, the latest capital raise takes its total capital commitments to over US$1 billion. The Australian company also says it has returned over US$400 million to its investors.

“We have reached a tipping point where Southeast Asian founders are no longer content to build copycat companies from overseas for a local market and are instead building globally defining businesses founded right here,” said Piruze Sabuncu, Singapore-based partner at Square Peg.

Last month, the company announced that Sabuncu had joined the organization to strengthen its plans across Southeast Asia.

In February 2019, Square Peg hit the final close of its second fund worth US$235 million.