This 500 Startups alum built a tool to help founders find investors

This article is part of Tech in Asia’s partnership with Asia VC Cast hosted by Daniel Song where we publish the revised transcripts from the podcast’s interviews with inspiring entrepreneurs and experienced VCs. This is heavily revised from the show’s original transcript. For the full interview, go here.

Arnaud Bonzom is co-founder at Map of the Money, a tool that helps entrepreneurs raise funds in Southeast Asia by identifying investors. Previously, he was a venture partner at 500 Startups.

In this interview, Bonzom gives an overview of Map of the Money and shares some insights on the investment landscape in Southeast Asia.

How did you go from joining 500 Startups to working on Map of the Money?

I moved to Southeast Asia around six and a half years ago. I joined 500 Startups three years ago, and left just couple weeks ago. Basically, 500 Startups hired me to build their first piece of thought leadership, which was about the 500 biggest public corporations working with startups.

Previously, I was working for INSEAD in Singapore and, on top of my job, I was already building some tools for entrepreneurs. At that time, I made my first report for the startup ecosystem in Singapore, and it had around 30,000 views on SlideShare. Since then, I published a second version with now 120,000 views. I’m currently working on the third edition.

Tell us more about Map of the Money.

Map of the Money is a tool that helps entrepreneurs raise money. Our vision is that entrepreneurs will not have to spend their time to raise money. They should instead spend time building their products and talking to their customers. So, we’re trying to help them by providing a list of active investors (currently 100+ in Singapore). Then, we give a range of the size of investments these investors are doing.

The data is based on the past months, so it doesn’t predict the future but gives a good indication. We also started creating some filters, depending on the quality of the data we are showcasing, the stage of investment, as well as the vehicle of investment (angel, VC, Corporate, etc.).

In the next few months, we want to include country-specific investors in Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Indonesia. We also want users to be able to filter according to the industry.

What are the biggest changes you’ve seen in the venture ecosystem in Southeast Asia?

Around six years ago, there weren’t that many people working around startups in Singapore. There were just a few events and they were like a central point for the entire ecosystem. Now, it’s completely the opposite. There are so many events that it’s difficult to meet most of the key players due to the dispersion.

Initially, the likes of Jungle Ventures, Golden Gate Ventures, and Wavemaker were managing funds below US$10 million and were focusing on early-stage startups in 2010 and 2011. Then, all of them raised a second fund between US$50 million and US$100 million, giving a sense of the ecosystem’s growth. We also saw more Japanese and American investors coming through the likes of Rakuten and 500 Startups in 2013. Then, of course, Sequoia Capital came around 2014 to do series A.

In the last few years, we’ve seen more and more series B funds, such as B Capital (US$360 million), closing large funds. So, the funds are getting bigger and bigger because there are opportunities to deploy more money into the region.

What’s also interesting is that first-time funds (or maiden funds) are also getting bigger. For example, Insignia Ventures Partners closed its first fund in the region at around US$100 million, and Kejora closed US$80 million. We’ll also start to see some funds looking at very specific verticals like fashion (Start Today Ventures), gaming (Play Ventures), and blockchain.

Can you share other metrics that show Southeast Asia’s potential?

The size of the market. A population of more than 650 million is very interesting for a lot of investors and corporates. Also, Indonesia is the fourth biggest country in the world (250 million). The challenges, though, are the infrastructure and the number and fragmentation of islands. It’s not an easy market, but it’s an interesting one in terms of size.

From your experience, what do corporates look for when making investments into startups?

How can founders make sure they get the most value out of a corporate partnership?