1982 Ventures has announced the final close of its debut seed fund with over US$20.0 million in committed capital. The fund was heavily oversubscribed as 1982 Ventures was targeting to raise a total corpus of US$15 million.
Established in early 2020, 1982 Ventures has led and invested in 25 startups across Southeast Asia, Pakistan and Bangladesh. The fund has a core focus on seed stage fintech startups in Southeast Asia. The fund was identified as the most active Southeast Asia based fintech investor in 2021 (UOB).
By the end of 2021, 1982 Ventures’ portfolio had made a return of nearly 3x, with first round investments in Brick, Infina (YC S21), Homebase (YC W21), Wagely, Go Zayaan, Lista, Bluesheets, and Monit, among many others.
Their first fund has been backed by global VCs, institutions, corporates and family offices. Notable investors in 1982 Ventures debut fund include the family office of one of Indonesia’s largest conglomerates, Indonesia’s Trihill Capital, US fintech unicorn Carta, Asia’s leading multinational Genting Group’s Venture arm, US fund of funds First Close Partners and rali_cap. 1982 Ventures’ individual backers include unicorn and fintech founders, senior executives of tech and financial services companies, GPs of VC funds such as Sheel Mohnot (General Partner of Better Tomorrow Ventures) and other unnamed GPs at major Southeast Asian VC funds.
“We are accelerating our pace of investments despite the current market sentiment. Early-stage Southeast Asia fintech remains the most attractive sector for venture capital.”
Herston Elton Powers, Co-founder and Managing Partner of 1982 Ventures stated, “We are accelerating our pace of investments despite current market sentiment. Early-stage Southeast Asia fintech remains the most attractive sector for venture capital.”
Sheel Mohnot, Co-Founder and General Partner, of Better Tomorrow Ventures, stated “We are a global fintech fund and have seen how fintech transforms all markets. 1982 Ventures was the clear choice for a fund to provide us an on-the-ground partner that understands fintech in Southeast Asia.”
Southeast Asia is experiencing rapid urbanization, and has some of the world’s highest technology adoption and mobile and internet penetration rates. Southeast Asian fintech start-ups represent more than US$10 billion in unrealized value, with 100 projected fintech exits in the coming years (Dealroom).
James Vuong, Founder and CEO, of Infina stated “On our first call it was clear that Herston and Scott understood our business model and what we are building at Infina. It is invaluable to have a team you can call for anything, has real experience and expertise, and likes to move fast and get things done.” He continued, “Even after our successive fund raising rounds they continued to support Infina by identifying and helping us recruit our Chief of Staff!”
“We are now more focused than ever in supporting our portfolio companies in reaching their milestones and investing in the next fintech champions.”
Scott Krivokopich, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of 1982 Ventures stated, “We are on track to realize our goal of becoming the best performing fund in the region.” He continued, “While closing the fund is a major achievement there is no time to sit around and celebrate what has already been done. We are now more focused than ever in supporting our portfolio companies in reaching their milestones and investing in the next fintech champions.”
Both Herston and Scott are Southeast Asian fintech investment veterans and former executives of tryb Group (a Southeast Asian fintech investor). Both GPs have each been in Asia for well over a decade and have deep local networks through their experience as founders, bankers and investment professionals.
1982 Ventures leads pre-seed and seed rounds with an initial investment of US$250,000 and US$500,000. The firm expects to make another 10-15 new investments in addition to follow-on investments in their fund I portfolio. 1982 Ventures has over US$5 million in early commitments to their soon-to-be-announced fund II.
