CyberAgent’s 2026 playbook: D2C, Malaysia, and a new fund

As the year comes to a close, Tech in Asia sat down with Kevin Wijaya, director of CyberAgent Capital’s Indonesia office, to discuss the firm’s plans for 2026. He oversees the Japan-based corporate VC firm’s investments in Southeast Asia.

The conversation, originally conducted in Bahasa, has been edited for length and clarity. Wijaya explains why the firm sees direct-to-consumer brands as “recession-proof,” why it isn’t exclusively chasing agentic AI, and why he believes one of its portfolio companies, Jago Coffee, is on track to go public.

Tech in Asia: How many Southeast Asia investments did CyberAgent make in 2025?

Kevin Wijaya: In Southeast Asia, we made around five investments this year. There’s one gaming company in Vietnam that we can’t disclose yet. We also invested in Viruma from Indonesia (a top-up round), AOne from Malaysia, and Jago Coffee from Indonesia. There are a few more, including one in Thailand that’s coming soon.

Typically, we make two to three investments per country per year. So across Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Thailand, that’s around eight to 12 investments, which includes top-ups. Japan is counted separately, and we are much more aggressive there.

Moving into 2026, what will the investment plan look like? Any strategic changes? Which markets will you focus on?

Region-wise, we’ll still focus on existing markets, but we’ll also double down in Malaysia and Singapore because we haven’t been very active in those two countries. In 2026, we’ll shift more focus there, on par with Indonesia, Vietnam, and Thailand.

We’re also launching something new next year: the Scout Fund. It targets very early-stage startups, with ticket sizes at around US$30,000 to US$50,000. The goal is to explore this segment more deeply, and the initiative won’t be restricted to our current markets.

This fund is part of our CA Startups Internet Fund 4, which has a size of around US$50 million and has been active since September.

When will the Scout Fund start deploying?

As early as January. The capital is already ready, but the challenge is our limited manpower. If regular investments come up, those will take priority over the Scout Fund.