Wavemaker eyes up $75m for fifth VC fund

Cross boarder VC Wavemaker Partners is looking to raise up to $75m for its fifth fund.

Wavemaker Partners V has already raised $4.3m from nine investors according to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. It is unclear whether the filing represents a first close or if the $75m total offering is a target or hard cap.

The new fund comes eight months after Wavemaker closed its second Southeast Asia-focused fund at $66m. It closed at 32% above its original target of $50M, with backing from IFC, a member of the World Bank Group.

Wavemaker is an early stage cross border venture capital firm dual headquartered in Los Angeles and Singapore. The firm launched in Los Angeles in 2003. Founded by Eric Manlunas, David Siemer, and Paul Santos, it later expanded to Singapore in 2012.

It previous investments include Coins.ph, a financial services platform; Wavecell, a cloud communications platform; Red Dot Payment, a provider of industry-specific payment solutions; and Zilingo, a fashion marketplace.

In October last year, Wavemaker backed Smartkarma, an online marketplace that connects investment research on Asian companies with professional investors. The company raised $13.5m in a round led by Sequoia India to fund its international expansion.

Smartkarma’s funding came just before the roll out MiFID II legislation which requires investment banks to charge for research, which has long been bundled with trading commissions and other services fees.

Wavemaker also recently funded Silent8, a startup working with a number of larger banks and financial institutions to give them a ‘powerful tool’ to combat Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing.

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