Kaya Founders, a venture capital firm based in the Philippines, has announced the second close of its two latest funds aimed at supporting emerging technology startups throughout Southeast Asia. With this update, the firm stated that the total committed capital for its new funds had reached PHP1 billion ($18 million), increasing the firm's total assets under management (AUM) to PHP1.25 billion ($22.5 million).
As per the announcement, investors including Pavilion Capital based in Singapore, Gabriel and Geraldine Sunshine from Bracebridge Capital in Boston, and Concentric Equity Partners, along with family offices, high-net-worth individuals, and seasoned entrepreneurs, took part in the funding round. The firm aims to raise PHP1.4 billion ($25 million) across two new funds to support early-stage startups in the Philippines and Southeast Asia.
Founded in 2021, Kaya Founders has 44 companies in its portfolio to date, spanning a wide range of sectors including eCommerce, software as a service, healthcare, financial services, agriculture, and more. With the new funds aptly named the “Zero to One” and “One to Ten” funds, alluding to the stage each one is focused on—the firm is looking to back another 30-40 start-ups in the Philippines and Southeast Asia over the next four years.
The venture capital firm has made notable investments, including in eCommerce facilitator Etaily, which disclosed a $17.8 million Series A funding round in November last year; cloud logistics platform Locad, which secured an $11 million Series A round in January 2023; salary-on-demand provider Advance; the global plastic credits marketplace Plastic Credit Exchange; and microinsurance platform RuralNet.
Kaya Founders is backed by prominent technology operators and investors from the Philippines, including Paulo Campos (Co-founder and Former Chief Executive Officer of ZALORA Philippines), Ray Alimurung (former Chief Executive Officer of Lazada Philippines), and Lisa Gokongwei-Cheng (Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Summit Media). To enhance its leadership team, the venture capital has recently welcomed strategic partners, including Dominic Hernandez, former Chief Operating Officer of Potato Corner and Director at Union Digital Bank, and technology solutions provider Accent Micro Technologies Inc. (AMTI).
“We see Kaya as a vehicle to capitalize on the unique window of opportunity we are in, with the defining companies of the country and broader region to be built over the next decade. Above all, we see Kaya as an avenue to solve the most pressing challenges of our times, be it financial exclusion, climate change, or limited healthcare access”, Its Managing General Partner Paulo Campos said.
The announcement of its second close aligns with Kaya Founders' appointment as an official co-investment partner (CIP) of the Start-up Venture Fund (SVF), a PHP500 million ($8.9 million) fund dedicated to local startups managed by the National Development Company (NDC), the investment arm of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI). With the newly raised funds and the support of the national government, Kaya Founders stated that it is spearheading efforts to further enhance funding opportunities for local startups. Despite the increasing investment activity in the ecosystem in recent years, driven by favorable demographics and macroeconomic factors, Kaya Founders noted that many startups still struggle to secure Series A funding due to limited options.