How this Singapore-based investor bought into Uber, Spotify, Alibaba, and other tech giants

Photo credit: K2 Global

K2 Global has been investing in startups since 2015, but the venture capital fund and its founder, Ozi Amanat, are seldom in the news.

Singapore-based Amanat has been in the game for a decade or so. During that time, he’s been able to get into the cap tables of some of the most prominent tech companies in the world, ranging from Uber, Airbnb, Spotify, and Palantir to Alibaba and Paytm. He’s gathered support from high-profile limited partners, family offices, and investors. And he’s done it largely as a “one-man band,” as he puts it.

I meet him in the Atlas Bar, a cafe slash restaurant slash bar that’s distinguished by its opulent, 1930s New York art deco style. He’s just closed a deal with an investor who agreed to put US$5 million into the fund.

Amanat speaks softly but passionately, every question prompting a torrent of thoughts out of him. He tells me that he tries to hold as many meetings as he can in this place, hoping that more investors and entrepreneurs will start meeting there. “I’ve already run into five or six different people today,” he says.

He stops to greet two more people who pass by our table during our conversation. “It’s a nice environment – you still have your privacy but also your collaborative moments when you can bump into somebody. I think that’s important,” he adds.

In fact, it’s serendipitous encounters like these that have played a big part in his journey as an investor.

The importance of being earnest

K2 raised US$183 million for its first fund in 2016 and announced a new US$200 million fund early last year. The firm keeps things lean – Amanat travels a lot out of Singapore, while co-founder Minal Hasan manages the firm’s operations in San Francisco.

The latest fund is in the process of closing. Amanat expects Spotify’s recently announced direct listing at a valuation of up to US$25 billion to provide a strong exit for the first fund, which will help fuel its successor. Both personally and through K2, he says he owns “tens of millions” in stock in the music-streaming company and expects returns at 200 to 300 percent.

Amanat felt that Spotify was going to be big, even though his investors were unsure. “Even today one of my investors called and said, ‘Thanks for making me a profit in Spotify but what is it?'” he jokes. But Amanat believed in the company’s potential to be a content powerhouse, especially in Asia, where he thinks competitor Apple Music will have difficulty scaling in as a more expensive product.

“I think Spotify has a long run way for growth in Asia,” he says. “Tencent investing in the company was a game changer. Spotify has reached a critical mass moment whereby it is vital to the survival of the way music is created, delivered and consumed. There will be a convergence of content and delivery and we are seeing this as Spotify edges toward creating its own content and potentially becoming its own record label.”

In addition, K2 – in partnership with incubator Trendlines Medical Singapore – was recently selected by government venture arm Spring Seeds Capital to be part of a US$76 million investment allocation under the Startup Equity SG scheme for early-stage deep tech startups.

K2 itself has gone into deals in various stages, domains, and countries. Amanat expects that to continue with more investments in Singapore, India, Indonesia, and so on.

Investments in Asia include Alibaba, Paytm, and Singaporean dating app-turned-social entertainment startup Paktor. The Alibaba deal was a case of serendipity over coffee, where one of Amanat’s investors asked him to buy stock in the then-upcoming ecommerce powerhouse, shortly before its US$25 billion IPO.

Small beginnings

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