Monk’s Hill Ventures launches VC scout program for SEA startups

Monk’s Hill Ventures (MHV) is launching a venture scout program that will be on the lookout for startups to scale in Southeast Asia.

Under the program, over 20 venture scouts will invest in high-growth, pre-seed, and seed-stage firms in Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam, bringing together notable founders from the region.

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The scouts include names like Bukalapak co-founder Achmad Zaky, Snapcart co-founder Araya Noon Hutasuwan, Zopim co-founder Royston Tay, R Fitness founder Gita Sjahrir, Pace Enterprise founder Turochas Fuad, and Raena co-founder Sreejita Deb.

“We believe in entrepreneurs backing entrepreneurs. Through this program, we empower founders to support fellow founders from day one,” said Peng Ong, co-founder and managing partner of Monk’s Hill Ventures.

Venture scouts will cover sourcing, vetting, and investing in startups. Examples include Crystal Widjaja, Kumu’s chief product officer, who invested in mentoring platform ADPList, and John Tan, the founder of Doyobi, who backed online coding boot camp Rocket Academy.

2021 has been seen as a tipping point for scout programs, with restricted VC movement due to Covid-19. VC scouts are generally expected to have an eye out for local potential ripe for regional and even global exposure.

Read: Hunting for deals: the rise of VC scouts in SEA

MHV is a VC firm founded in 2014 that invests mainly in early-stage tech startups, particularly in series A.