MDI Ventures’ Centauri Fund raises $8.5m from South Korea’s sovereign wealth fund

Korea Growth Investment Corporation (K-Growth), South Korea’s sovereign wealth fund, announced that it has invested 10 billion won (around US$8.5 million) into Centauri Fund, a venture capital fund with headquarters in both Jakarta and Seoul.

Centauri Fund general partners Kim Jong Pil (center left) and Kenneth Li (center right) / Photo credit: Centauri Fund

The Centauri Fund said that the deal takes it one step closer to becoming the strongest tech investment vehicle backed by Indonesian and South Korean firms.

Launched in 2019, Centauri Fund is a joint investment vehicle of Telkom Indonesia’s MDI Ventures and KB Investment, a subsidiary of KB Financial Group. The tech-focused fund aims to raise US$150 million to invest in Southeast Asian startups, especially those that emerge out of Indonesia.

The joint fund is led by MDI Ventures’ managing partner Kenneth Li and KB Investment chief executive Kim Jong Pil.

Centauri Fund’s portfolio currently includes Indonesian insurance tech platform Qoala, logistics firm Paxel, fintech company Cermati, and Singapore-based social commerce startup Webuy.

The fund has also injected capital into enterprise resource planning solutions startup Run System, which plans to list on the Indonesian Stock Exchange next month.

Currency converted from Korean won to US dollar: US$1 = 1,165.27 won