Asian Investors

Today’s guest is Chandra Firmanto, founder and Managing Partner at IndoGen Capital. Before founding IndoGen, Chandra was Chairman of his family owned group.

IndoGen Capital aims to be a value-adding partner for founders looking to grow in or expand into Indonesia. IndoGen typically invest in post-seed stage up to series A companies. They have consistently generated above average returns to their investors through value-creation activities leading to strong portfolio exits. They leverage our key members’ extensive networks and operating experience across various functions and sectors.

Jennifer is the Founder & Director of NewChic Capital (NewChicCapital.com), the Venture and Private Equity arm of her single Family Office. She is also Founder & Director, AKA CGG (Chief Glam Girl) of Glam-it! (Glamit.com) a passion project and now a self-running beauty, fashion, lifestyle technology brand. She is also the Chair of Women With Purpose (part of Society of Family Offices).  Born and raised in the US, Jennifer had a career as an actress and a model in New York City. Jennifer graduated with a BA in International Relations from Brown University and received an MBA from Hong Kong University of Science & Technology. A serial entrepreneur, she held management positions at companies and startups including Director of Business Development APAC for Rackspace (NYSE: RAX), Vice President of uBuyiBuy (NASDAQ: GRPN) and Vice President of BEECRAZY (ASX: EN88), and advisory including luxury jewelry brand Plukka (ASX: PKA). With startup exits under her belt, Jennifer continues to invest in, advise, and mentor startups as well as emerging investors and fund managers via NewChic Capital with recent exits including Sensei Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ: SNSE) and Olive-X (NSX: OLX).

An in-demand speaker and published writer and columnist, Jennifer has been featured and Interviewed on BBC, CNBC, SCMP, Tatler, and more. Jennifer also holds select performances as an international award-winning classically trained pianist with a performance diploma from New England Conservatory of Music (Pre-college, Piano).  

In this episode, I speak to David Lin, Chairman of Whitesun Equity Partners. Whitesun Equity Partners is a private equity fund based in Taiwan, providing growth capital to companies in technology and consumer sectors.

 

1. His journey to founding WhiteSun Equity Partners
2. His fund’s investment strategy, consumer and tech focus, growth capital and geographic market, etc.
3. The unique opportunity in Taiwan and Taiwanese ecosystem
4. How he supports his portfolio companies.
5. About a couple of his previous portfolio companies
6. The long-term vision for Whitesun Equity Partners

 

In this episode, I speak to Binh Tran. Binh Tran is one of two General Partners of Ascend Vietnam Ventures, a seed stage venture capital firm investing in Vietnam-connected technology start-ups.

Binh and I talk about:

1. His journey to founding Ascend Vietnam Ventures
2. His fund’s investment strategy, in terms of strategy, sectors, focus geographic market, etc.
3. What do you look for when evaluating an early-stage startup?
4. The unique opportunity in Vietnam
5. About a couple of his previous portfolio companies
6. The long-term vision for Ascend Vietnam Ventures

In this episode, I speak to Yat Siu, founder and chairman of Animoca Brands ,

Animoca Brands, ranked in the Financial Times list of High Growth Companies Asia-Pacific 2021, is a leader in digital entertainment, blockchain, gamification, and artificial intelligence. Animoca Brands develops and publishes a broad portfolio of products including the REVV token and SAND token; original games including The Sandbox, Crazy Kings, and Crazy Defense Heroes; and products utilizing popular intellectual properties including Formula 1®, Marvel, WWE, Power Rangers, MotoGP™, and Doraemon. Animoca Brands’ portfolio of blockchain investments and partnerships includes Sky Mavis (Axie Infinity), Dapper Labs (CryptoKitties and NBA Top Shot), OpenSea, Harmony, Bitski, and Alien Worlds. Its subsidiaries include The Sandbox, Quidd, Gamee, nWay, Pixowl, and Lympo.

• His entrepreneurial journey (serial entrepreneurs vs. portfolio entrepreneurs)
• What problem he is solving now with Animoca Brands:
• Bringing digital property rights to gamers via NFTs
• Is Animoca Brands an operating company or a holding company (invested in 65 portfolio companies)
• Animoca Brands is investing in ecosystem in large to balance the portfolio and create synergy.
• The most important skill is “empathy” to solve the other people’s problem
• The nicest person he has ever met is his “office mom” in his early days

In this episode, I speak to Tim Gocher, Founder and CEO at Dolma Impact Fund

Dolma Fund Management manages two private equity funds for Nepal: Dolma Impact Fund I and Dolma Impact Fund II. They provide growth capital to small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), and renewable energy projects in Nepal's energy, healthcare and technology sectors. The funds were established to generate private sector growth and jobs, positive social and environmental impact, and risk-adjusted market returns.

Tim and I talk about: 1) Why Nepal?: His background and journey to founding Dolma Impact Fund in Nepal 2) The unique and interesting investment strategy (VC+PE+Infrastructure fund), why not a single vertical focused fund? 3) The recent successful fundraising and closing of the 1st round of Dolma Impact Fund II during the pandemic. 4) About two portfolio companies and Why he invested. 5) Non-existence of co-relation between Nepalese economy and the large global economy (e.g. NEPSE Vs. S&P 500) 6) The next step and long-term vision for Dolma Impact Fund

In this episode, I speak to John Sharp, Partner at Hatcher+, a next-generation,

data-driven venture capital firm that uses AI and machine learning-based technologies,

to identify early-stage opportunities, in partnership with leading accelerators and investors, worldwide.

John and I talk about:

1. His background and journey to founding Hatcher+
2. Hatcher+: Enabling VC 3.0 using AI and machine learning technology to identify early-stage investment opportunities 
3. The investment strategy, sectors, geographic market, ticket size and stage
4. How he source deals, partnering with accelerators and investors, worldwide.
5. About two portfolio companies and Why he invested.
6. The new trend of VC ecosystem, the next step and vision for Hatcher+

In this episode, I speak to Takuma Terakubo, CEO & General Partner at UNCOVERED FUND INC.

Takuma and I talk about:

• Introduction of himself and his journey to founding UNCOVERED FUND
• How he came up with an idea of launching Africa focus VC fund,
• Uncovered fund’s investment strategy, in terms of strategy, sectors, focus geographic market, ticket size and stage, and social impact
• Introduction of a couple of current portfolio companies and why he made investment in them
• Differentiation of the Uncovered fund against other VC funds in Africa and how he plans to support portfolio companies leveraging Japanese business ecosystems
• The next step and the long term vision for the Uncovered fund

In this episode, I speak to  Eric Solberg, Chairman & CEO at EXS Capital 

EXS is an independent investment firm dedicated to Asia Pacific with offices in the Cayman Islands, Hong Kong and Singapore, led by Eric Solberg, a 30 year Asia investment veteran, and a pedigree team. EXS sponsors private equity investments into real estate businesses in partnership with expert management teams, either local developers or sector specialists, with the goal of building high-valuation market leaders​.

Eric and I talk about:

• His background and journey to founding to EXS Capital

• EXS Capital’s unique investment (business) model; what does the “Developer of Developers" business model means.

• The fund’s investment strategy, or strike zone in terms of strategy, focus geographic market, ticket size and stage

• What is the next step and the long term vision for EXS Capital

In this episode, I speak to Rahul Chaudhary, Managing Director & CEO at CG Corp Global and CG Hospitality Holdings. A leading Nepal-based multinational conglomerate CG Corp Global is the first enterprise from the Himalayan nation to be recognized by Forbes Asia Magazine. Established in 1935, the enterprise comprises of 160 companies and 123 brands across verticals which include, FMCG, Hospitality, Education, Realty, Energy/Infra, Electronics, cement & telecom/IT. Conferred as Asia's Best Employer brand by the Employer Branding awards (2017), the group employs over 15,000+ highly skilled and trained professionals. With operations based out of 27 countries,   Rahul and I talk about: 1) The history and background of CG group 2) The main business the group and the international network. 3) How Covid-19 has impacted the investment approach and paved the way for new opportunities? 4) The group have business in education, telco, hospital, and banking. These 4 are most famous traditional sectors that VC and tech companies are always talking about huge potential through disruption with technology. What is your thought and plan? 5) How do they find smart people for the business? 6) The long-term vision for CG group