Temasek’s Vertex closes $730m master fund

Singapore-based venture capital firm Vertex Holdings has hit the final close of its US$730 million Vertex Master Fund (VMF), a spokesperson confirmed to Tech in Asia.

Photo credit: Vertex Holdings

Japanese companies Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC), Marubeni, ABeam Consulting, and the Development Bank of Japan contributed to the fund. SMBC and Marubeni chipped in US$20 million and US$50 million, respectively, according to their separate statements.

Temasek, which owns Vertex, remains the anchor investor for VMF, taking up about 75% of the total corpus, a DealStreetAsia report said.

“[Japan’s involvement] wasn’t so much about the money. We wanted the right kind of people we could work with as well. Japanese corporations have a lot of interest in technology, and [we felt] this would give our portfolio companies a good opportunity to access Japanese expertise and markets,” Vertex Holdings CEO Chua Kee Lock said in the report.

Tech in Asia first reported about Vertex’s potential partnerships with Japanese companies for a new fund in June.

According to Nikkei Asian Review, the VMF will primarily back startups in China and India, as well as Japanese companies strong in AI and the internet of things.

It will provide anchor funding and operational support to a proprietary network of venture capital funds. Currently, there are six: Vertex Ventures China, Vertex Ventures Israel, Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia and India, Vertex Ventures US, Vertex Ventures HC, and Vertex Growth.

In September, the company hit the first close of its US$290 million late stage-focused Vertex Growth fund. It has already invested in PerimeterX, US-based healthtech firm Nuvaira, digital cross-border payments company InstaRem (now Nium), and biotech firm Bicycle Therapeutics.

In the same month, Vertex announced the final close of its Southeast Asia and India fund at US$305 million. It has backed several startups in the region, including Grab, Validus, and Tickled Media, among others.