Openspace to name two senior members, invest in Biofourmis

Openspace Ventures, an investment company focused on Southeast Asia, has announced that two senior members will be joining its team.

Photo credit: Openspace Ventures team

Jessica Huang Pouleur was named as an executive director and a member of the investment committee of OSV+, a new fund that specializes in mid-stage technology investing. Meanwhile, Aristo Setiawidjaja will be a senior advisor in Indonesia.

Pouleur has over 10 years of experience in the technology, media and telecommunications sector across Asia.

Most recently, she was the head of strategy and business development for Asia Pacific at The Walt Disney Company. During her stint, Pouleur oversaw strategic initiatives and handled Disney’s investment and M&A activity across the region, including the US$71 billion acquisition of 21st Century Fox.

Prior to that, she was with US-based investment firm Providence Equity Partners for a decade. She was based in Singapore and led the evaluation and management of growth-stage investment opportunities across Southeast Asia.

Setiawidjaja is a board member and managing director of Hermina Hospitals, a private hospital network in Indonesia. Prior to that, he was a director at Olympus Capital and the head of Indonesia for investment banking at Daiwa.

The move comes as OSV+ is set to bankroll healthtech company Biofourmis, marking the new fund’s first investment. The Singapore-based startup has just raised US$100 million in a series C money led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2, along with Openspace Ventures, MassMutual Ventures, Sequoia Capital, and EDBI.

Openspace Ventures also led Biofourmis’ series A round in 2017 and participated in its series B last year.

OSV+ will primarily join mid-stage rounds in existing Openspace portfolio companies while also making new growth-stage deals in investments, according to a company statement.

Launched in 2014, Openspace Ventures is managing over US$350 million of total committed capital across three funds focused on series A and B opportunities.

To date, the firm has invested in 30 companies, including riding-hailing giant Gojek, fintech firm FinAccel, and agritech firm Tanihub, among others.

It operates out of offices in Singapore, Jakarta and Bangkok with a team of 25 people.