Consumer tech isn’t trendy. This VC firm doesn’t care

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Hello readers,

I’ve never been accused of being trendy.

From my haircut to the phone I use, I’m not exactly on the cutting edge and that’s just fine for me. I couldn’t pretend to care enough about those things to successfully keep up with what’s trendy, so why fight who I am?

While I’m not a slave to trends, I do have to move with the times. Until 2018, I didn’t have a smartphone in favor of a Nokia 3310-style brick phone. Nowadays, though, I can’t get through a day without having access to apps like Grab and MoMo wherever I go.

Goodwater Capital doesn’t live at the mercy of trends either. The investment firm is still focusing on consumer tech, even though many investors have lost interest in the sector, especially after the pandemic.

Part of the reason is that successful consumer tech firms can become so ingrained in our lives – so ingrained that they help convert Luddites like me to the church of the smartphone.

Today we look at:

• Why Goodwater Capital is still bullish on consumer tech in Asia
• Investible and Mandiri Capital Indonesia’s new climate tech fund
• Other newsy highlights such as Elon Musk’s new AI chatbot trained on tweets, and Byju’s missing its revenue targets.

Premium summary

Goodwater stays the course on consumer tech

Image credit: Timmy Loen

Earlier this year, Goodwater Capital announced it had raised US$1 billion for its early- and growth-stage funds.

Traditionally, the company has invested about a third of its capital in Asia, but that allocation could increase, co-founder and managing partner Eric Kim told Tech in Asia.

• Bread and butter: Kim said that Goodwater isn’t afraid of investing in consumer tech firms that aren’t profitable from the get-go. His rationale is that the market leaders in the sector offer services that become ingrained into our societies, as ride-hailing has, for example.
• Finance fun: When asked about the biggest opportunities in Asian consumer tech, Kim pointed to financial services. He mentioned housing, education, and commerce as the three most promising verticals within the sector.
• Focused mindset: Amid layoffs and closures in the sector, Kim advised consumer tech companies to avoid the temptation to chase several ideas at once and to instead focus on generating high-quality revenue. This would eventually lead to strong profitability, he said.

Mandiri finds an Investible opportunity

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