Vertex Ventures gets $600M to invest in startups in China, US, Israel

Vertex Ventures, the venture capital subsidiary of Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund Temasek, now has a larger war chest to invest in startups, courtesy of its parent company.

Predominantly focused on Asian startups with proven products ready for rapid expansion, Vertex will now also look at US and Israel, while doubling down on China. These are the leading centers of tech innovation. Healthcare is a new area it’ll be looking at. A European office is in the planning stages.

The firm has put US$190 million from its last fund in 30 Asian startups, with a return on investment of 30 percent – on par with what top venture capital firms make, according to Vertex’s research. At US$600 million, the size of the new fund is under half of the US$1.5 billion that top-tier firm Andreessen Horowitz raised recently.

Vertex’s past investments include Southeast Asia’s leading taxi booking app Grabtaxi, dating app Paktor, and parenting media site TheAsianparent. Tech in Asia data shows its one of the most active venture capital firms in Southeast Asia.

One of the firm’s selling points is its ties to Temasek, which is said to have helped Grabtaxi secure a foothold in Singapore and fend off traditional cab companies.

Source: The Straits Times