Brief: Go-Jek investor KKR tops up third Asia fund, nearing $7b target

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The news:

• A US private pension provider, the New York State Common Retirement Fund (CRF), says it’s putting at least $275 million into a new fund by global investment firm KKR, called KKR Asia Fund III.
• That’s on top of the US$5.8 billion that have reportedly already been committed to the fund.
• KKR’s target for this third pan-Asian investment vehicle is to raise at least $7 billion.

Why it matters:

• KKR is a private equity investor with stakes in various sectors, including tech. It became widely known in Southeast Asia’s tech scene when it participated in Go-Jek’s US$550 million round last year. Go-Jek is Indonesia’s first startup to officially reach unicorn status.
• Parts of the US$7 billion pot could flow into the further funding of Go-Jek, which is said to be in the process of raising another US$1 billion to fend off competitors Grab and Uber.
• KKR also has stakes in other tech companies in Asia, for example, China’s O2O services startup 58 Daojia.

Source: DealStreetAsia