Agaeti Ventures and Convergence Ventures announce merger forming AC Ventures
Published on April 5, 2020
Agaeti Ventures and Convergence Ventures announce merger forming AC Ventures creating Indonesia’s largest local early stage venture capital partnership
AC Ventures combines all Partners and members of both teams under a new planned fund, consolidating their respective strategies of Indonesia-centric, early stage, technology investing.
- Agaeti Ventures and Convergence Ventures formally announce their merger to combine the experience and network of both teams to form the largest local venture capital investment partnership in Indonesia.
- The combined track record of the new fund and of prior funds is over 70 early stage venture investments
- ACV has a strategic alliance with Indies Capital to assist portfolio companies with later stage capital as they scale.
- Today, ACV launched a series of talks by invitation to portfolio founders, featuring local leaders sharing their guidance on how to navigate the economic and business impact of COVID-19.
April 6th 2020, Jakarta: AC Ventures, (“ACV”) is a new venture platform formed last year through the combination of Agaeti Ventures and Convergence Ventures. Today, the firm formally announced their merger.
Managed by a partnership of experienced technology entrepreneurs, investors and business operators; ACV is the largest local investment partnership on the ground in Indonesia, with four Partners, six investment professionals and a supporting operational team. The firm’s Partners consist of Adrian Li, Michael Soerijadji, Donald Wihardja and Pandu Sjahrir (representing Indies Capital) and lead a newly planned fund that will invest in up to 35 high-potential, early stage, tech-enabled businesses in Indonesia, over the next three years.
Adrian and Pandu had discussed opportunities to work more closely together since 2018 when Agaeti Ventures was launched. Previously the two of them had overlapped during their studies at Stanford GSB in 2005-6.
“Our objective was to consolidate our resources to create a platform of exponential value that can provide significant support to our portfolio Founders as they build and scale successful businesses across Indonesia – the largest market in Southeast Asia,” said Adrian. “In addition, ACV’s close partnership with Indies Capital, a leading alternative asset manager focusing on private credit and equity in Southeast Asia, enables support for portfolio with later stage capital as the companies scale.”
The merger brings together the comprehensive networks of both Agaeti Ventures and Convergence Ventures, whose fund LPs have included leading regional digital corporates, local Indonesian conglomerates, founders of China and US venture funds and technology entrepreneurs who have scaled billion dollar businesses.
ACV was formally established in Q3 2019 and over the course of the last 6 months completed several investments through Partners’ capital. While the prior funds remain separate and are fully deployed, portfolio companies will now have access to the combined partnership to support their growth. The investment thesis of the new fund continues their prior funds’ respective successful investment strategies of investing in Indonesia-focused, early stage, technology opportunities. In particular, the team are seeking investment opportunities into areas of eCommerce, digital content enabled services, financial technologies and MSME enabling technology.
Pandu, who is on the board of Gojek, is Chairman of Shopee Indonesia and represents Indies Capital in the Partnership, continues to see strong future potential for high-value creation in Indonesia’s tech sector. “Indonesia already has an established track record of creating billion dollar valuations for tech-enabled businesses. Given that Indonesia is forecast to be the fourth largest country in terms of GDP by 2030, we are still only at the early stages of potential future value creation through technology.”
Further to the market thesis in Indonesia, Michael Soerijadji, who is a mining/energy entrepreneur and technology investor said, “The first wave of investments has accelerated technological adoption on online shopping, ride hailing, travel and fintech. However, Indonesia is still relatively early along the adoption curve and the next wave will continue to follow more developed markets and see disruption happen in many more traditional spaces as well as new opportunities.”
ACV’s Partners bring together extensive prior experience in financial, operational and entrepreneurial capacities, from technology and financial businesses in both local and global contexts. ACV’s ambition is to leverage their industry insights, support services and global network to empower exceptional founders to build disruptive and impactful businesses for Indonesia and across the Southeast Asia region.
“With our track record as successful technology entrepreneurs and investors, our advantage is in working closely with our portfolio businesses to add value through our collective experience and network. From key business development to C level recruiting and follow on fund raising, we have the knowhow, experience and network to support our founders closely,” said Donald.
Alongside the formal merger announcement, ACV today launched an initiative known as Leadership Talks, which is a series of talks by invitation to portfolio founders, featuring local leaders sharing their guidance on how to navigate the economic and business impact of COVID-19. The first talk scheduled for Monday, 6 April 2020 will feature Andre Soelistyo, Co-CEO of GoJek, sharing his advice on how startups should be navigating the challenging times ahead.
About AC Ventures:
AC Ventures is an early stage technology venture fund focused on investing in Indonesia’s digital disruptors. The firm’s partners are seasoned professionals with extensive operating and investment experience in Internet and Mobile businesses in emerging markets. ACV leverages their industry insights, support services and global network to empower exceptional founders to build disruptive and impactful businesses for Indonesia and across the Southeast Asia region.
Contact:
Email: info@acv.vc
Website: www.www.acv.vc
