1982 Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm, has secured $20 million for its first seed fund. With an initial objective of raising $15 million, the fund was oversubscribed.
Indonesian VC Trihill Capital, US fintech firm Carta, and the venture arm of Malaysian conglomerate Genting Group, as well as US investors First Close Partners and Rali Cap, also participated in the round.
Individual sponsors included Better Tomorrow Ventures general partner Sheel Mohnot and undisclosed partners in numerous Southeast Asian VC firms in the new fund’s fundraising.
Despite current market conditions, Herston Elton Powers, co-founder and managing partner of 1982 Ventures, stated the business will accelerate its investing pace. Southeast Asia’s early-stage fintech business is the most appealing area for venture capital, according to the firm.
In addition to follow-on investments in its Fund I portfolio, the business aims to make an additional 10 to 15 fresh investments. Early investments to its soon-to-be-announced Fund II total more than $5 million.
1982 Ventures, which was founded in early 2020, has invested in 25 firms in Southeast Asia, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, with a concentration on seed-stage financial startups in the region. It usually takes the lead in pre-seed and seed rounds, with initial investments ranging from $250,000 to $500,000.
With first-round investments in Brick, Infina, Homebase, Wagely, Go Zayaan, Lista, Bluesheets, and Monit, among others, its portfolio returned over 3x by the end of 2021.
