With an eye on seed-stage startups, Koichi Saito starts new fund after IMJ

Koichi Saito, founder and general partner of KK Fund.

Former venture partner at Japan-based VC firm IMJ Investment Partners Koichi Saito announced today that he has set up a new fund called KK Fund. Saito confirms that he has left his position at IMJ, where he was also a director, and is now the founder and general partner at KK Fund.

KK Fund will focus on seed stage internet and mobile startups in Southeast Asia, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. Saito says his firm is looking for top-notch management teams with scalable business models like online marketplaces and financial tech companies. At IMJ Investment Partners, Saito was responsible for the firm’s Southeast Asia portfolios including Malaysia-based iMoney, Indonesia’s consumer-to-consumer marketplace Bukalapak, and Zipmatch in the Philippines.

Saito says KK Fund will focus only on seed stage investments, putting its sweet spot somewhere between US$100,000 to US$400,000 per startup depending on the equity terms.

“When I look at a startup, it is all about the founder. Once I find good founders who can execute well, I do not have to wait until series A,” explains Saito. “Series A rounds are getting bigger these days in Southeast Asia, and more investors with big money come down to [contribute to] series A rounds. Therefore, our investment scale does not really fit series A funding.”

See: Oomph, Indonesia’s answer to Google Play, grabs seed funding from IMJ Investment Partners

Saito says he doesn’t want to disclose the exact amount of capital in KK Fund, but he confirms that it’s enough to cover more than 20 to 30 investments, and that Tech in Asia readers could probably make an educated guess based on that.

Saito says the fund is still brand new, and as such it’s only him and his advisor Masahiko Honma from Incubate Fund running the firm. Saito discloses that Incubate Fund is one of the major LPs for KK Fund.

Incubate Fund is a Japan-based VC firm with more than US$150 million in capital under management. It is backed by Tencent, Yahoo Japan, Innovation Network Corporation of Japan, and other investors.

As the project is still new, Saito says he’s still taking things slow. “I am not rushed to find more team members right now, but if I encounter a really good person, I’ll want to work with him or her,” says Saito.