Early-stage VC firm Iterative closes new $55m fund

Iterative, an early-stage VC firm that operates a Y Combinator-style accelerator, has closed its US$55 million second fund.

The deal was led by Goodwater Capital and K5 Global as well as Village Global and Cendana – two firms that also led the Iterative’s first fund.

Iterative’s co-founders Brian Ma (left) and Hsu Ken Ooi / Photo credit: Iterative

Singapore-based Iterative runs accelerator programs twice a year. It invests around US$150,000 to US$500,000 for every participant upon admission, and then work on those startups’ ideas for three months.

The VC firm plans to use its second fund to invest in more than 100 Southeast Asian startups that are in their pre-seed to series A stages.

It aims to continue organizing accelerator programs with more participants, set up events in various cities, and make follow-on investment – something that Iterative said it “consciously decided” not to do with its first fund.

At the end of 2021, the firm closed Fund I at US$10 million. It used the capital to back more than 65 companies – including prominent startups like fintech-focused Spenmo, proptech platform PropSeller, and travel specialist GoZayaan – over five cohorts. Those startups have raised over US$163 million in follow-on funding, with a collective valuation of more than US$1.2 billion.

See also: These are the most active investors in Southeast Asia’s startups

Brian Ma and Hsu Ken Ooi established Iterative in 2020. They also founded professional social app Weave in 2014, which was admitted to Y Combinator program the same year.

Other limited partners who invested in Iterative’s Fund II include:

• Arash Ferdowsi, co-founder of Dropbox
• Achmad Zaky, co-founder of Bukalapak
• Andrew Chen, general partner at Andreessen Horowitz
• Qasar Younis, former chief operating officer of Y Combinator
• David Shim, former chief operating officer of Foursquare
• Kum Hong Siew, head of Airbnb Asia