Monk’s Hill Ventures gets funding from Yahoo Japan’s VC firm to give its startups a leg up

Monk’s Hill Ventures now has a bullet train to Japan. The Singapore-based venture capital firm, headed by an established entrepreneur and a seasoned VC, announced it raised an undisclosed amount of funding from another VC. It’s YJ Capital, the corporate venture arm of Yahoo Japan.

Monk’s Hill touts the investment as a means for its portfolio startups to expand into the country under the aegis of Yahoo Japan’s mentors, market knowledge, and distribution channels. It’s unclear though to what extent startups can truly take advantage of Yahoo Japan’s assets. But given Yahoo is the most visited website in Japan, the payoff could be significant.

In return, YJ Capital, which has raised a combined JPY 23 billion (US$185 million), gets access to Monk’s Hill’s expertise and network in Southeast Asia. The corporate fund does have an interest in the region: it recently funded Indonesian flash sales site VIP Plaza for its series A round. The fund will continue investing directly in Southeast Asian startups despite backing Monk’s Hill.

Commenting on the partnership, Monk’s Hill founding partner Kuo-Yi Lim tells Tech in Asia: “​There’s an alignment of interests here in terms of Japan being a potential next market for our portfolio companies, Japan being a potential source of models and precedents for our investment theses, and Southeast Asia being of interest to YJ Capital.”

The specifics of the deal, however, remain unclear. A YJ Capital spokesperson declined to reveal how much the firm contributed to Monk’s Hill fundraising target of US$80 million.

She also did not comment on how much returns the firm expects to get. However, she did say that despite being a corporate fund, “strategic synergy is not a requirement” for its investment decisions.

YJ Capital is just one of many Japanese investors with an interest in Southeast Asia, which is seen as the next internet growth engine in the region due to a fast-rising population of smartphone users in countries like Indonesia, the Philippines, and Thailand.