Wavemaker Partners

🌊 Last week, we hosted our much-anticipated Annual General Meeting (AGM)—our week-long event filled with important updates, inspiring speakers, and meaningful connections.🤝 Here’s a look at what went down: 🇸🇬 November 11-12: Singapore At the SMU Hall @ Yong Pung How School of Law, we welcomed our limited partners, advisors, founders, and partners from the Southeast Asia startup ecosystem for a lineup of events: ▫ Founders’ Day: A dynamic day of workshops, where our founders came together to learn, share, and grow ▫ AGM 2024: We updated our LPs on fund performances and unveiled some big news—the launch of Wavemaker Growth and our Wavemaker Group rebrand. ▫ #Wavemakers: A signature highlight, featuring pitches from 16 standout companies in our portfolio 🇵🇭 November 13-15: Manila The excitement continued in Manila, where we brought along some of our LPs, advisors, and founders to visit several of our portfolio companies creating meaningful impact in their communities: ▪ Growsari and Lhoopa (Early-stage Fund) ▪ Helios, Numat PH, and WasteX (Impact Fund) We were also privileged to host a stellar lineup of speakers for two insightful panel discussions: 🔸 Jaime Urquijo (Ayala Corporation) and Ana Aboitiz Delgado (UnionBank of the Philippines) shared perspectives on the next generation of Filipino family business leaders 🔸 Lance Gokongwei (Gokongwei Group) and Chris Po (Century Pacific Group) discussed how #Philippine conglomerates are driving innovation and sustainability 🌳🏀 Finally, we closed out our AGM Week with a fun and meaningful team-building day, bringing together our region-wide team to bond and recharge. 📸 Check out some snapshots from the week below, and stay tuned for more updates soon!

🎉 Wavemaker Ventures is proud to lead a S$3.5M Seed round for Oneteam, a #Singapore-based #startup dedicated to transforming succession at small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) through employee ownership. 🌊 Led by Kevin Boo and Matthew Pay, Oneteam addresses a pressing issue in 🇸🇬 Singapore’s #SME sector: the lack of succession planning. It aims to bridge this gap by acquiring businesses from retiring owners and over time, transitioning them into employee-owned entities. 🏬👥 This succession model not only creates long-term value for the businesses and their employees but also promotes a deeper sense of ownership, purpose, and productivity. 📰 Read more: https://lnkd.in/gRVGcqHH #Oneteam #Wavemakers #WavemakerVentures Joel Ang

🎉 Congratulations to Portcast for securing US$6.5M in Series A funding led by Susquehanna Asia Venture Capital. We are pleased to have participated in the round with other investors such as Hearst Ventures, Signal Ventures, TMV, and Innoport. 🚢 The new funding will accelerate Portcast’s product innovation, particularly in leveraging generative AI to improve risk management, transport planning, and invoice auditing capabilities. The company plans to expand deeper into key markets across Asia Pacific and Europe, and strengthen integrations with technology partners.🌏 Read more: https://lnkd.in/ggvugRr8 Nidhi Gupta #Portcast #Wavemakers #WavemakerPartners #WavemakerVentures #supplychain #logistics #machinelearning #generativeAI

🌊 Thank you to Asian Venture Capital Journal (AVCJ) for inviting our Managing Partner B. Paul Santos to join the “Impact Investing: From Niche to Mainstream” panel at the 10th AVCJ ESG Summit, part of the 37th AVCJ Private Equity Forum! 📍 Paul shared how Wavemaker approaches impact investing through our flagship early-stage Venture fund, as well as our Growth fund and #climatetech venture builder, Wavemaker Impact. He talked about how our portfolio companies align with the UN SDGs—like promoting decent work (SDG 8), fostering innovation (SDG 9), and driving carbon mitigation.🌳 Some great examples he cited were Neocrete, which replaces up to 50% of cement with a low-carbon alternative; Agros, helping farmers switch from diesel to solar-powered pumps;👨🏻🌾 and Rize, reducing methane emissions from rice farming.🌾 These ventures tackle big problems while scaling meaningful impact. 📍 Paul didn’t shy away from discussing the challenges, especially in emerging markets. He shared how our early investments in companies like eFishery (Indonesia), Growsari (Philippines), and Lhoopa (Philippines) faced skepticism but eventually proved their value by addressing critical gaps in the region. As Paul said, the unfamiliarity of these opportunities often signals where the real potential lies.🚀 To listen to the full panel, do check out this link: https://lnkd.in/g22-Cb2A #AVCJ #AVCJESGSummit #ImpactInvesting #WavemakerPartners #Wavemakers

🌟We’re pleased to announce the successful US$30M first close of our inaugural Wavemaker Growth Opportunities Fund (“Wavemaker Growth”) from esteemed limited partners, including QLA Investment and Cercano Management. 🚀Wavemaker Growth will back high-potential #startups in the #Enterprise, #DeepTech, and #Sustainability sectors across #SoutheastAsia, with a focus on Series B and beyond. The fund plans to make investments ranging from US$3M to US$8M in syndicate rounds, typically involving total funding of US$20M or more. 🌊In line with the launch of Wavemaker Growth, we’re also unveiling a strategic rebranding of the firm. Under our parent group, Wavemaker Partners, we now operate three distinct fund strategies: Wavemaker Ventures, Wavemaker Impact, and Wavemaker Growth. This new structure enhances our ability to support startups at every stage, from co-founding to scaling, and reinforces our commitment to fostering innovation and sustainable growth in the region.🌏 Wavemaker Growth is led by B. Paul Santos (Managing Partner of Wavemaker Partners and Founding Partner of Wavemaker Growth), alongside experienced investors Shiv Choudhury and Xue K., who both bring decades of collective investment and operational expertise to the team. Shiv is a cofounder of Growsari and previously served as Managing Director at The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) where he led its regional consumer and consumer tech practice and held multiple regional leadership roles at Procter & Gamble (P&G). He is an avid angel investor and is also a member of YPO and a 2X Endeavor Outlier. Xue heads the investment team at Black Kite Capital, a Singapore-based single-family office. He honed his operational and investment acumen at Silver Lake, one of the largest technology-focused private equity firms, and at The Boston Consulting Group. Read more: https://lnkd.in/g-abK_eQ

Huge congratulations to Wavemaker Impact on the launch of their latest venture, Numat PH! 🇵🇭 Led by CEO Mark Sebastian and based in the #Philippines, Numat is on a mission to transform #bamboo processing with a sustainable approach. We’re excited to see Numat harness bamboo’s potential to reduce #carbon emissions and help fight #climate change.🌏 🌳 Learn more: https://lnkd.in/gDBMfQq7

We’re thrilled to have contributed to Enterprise Singapore’s Singapore Venture Funding Landscape 2024 report powered by PitchBook. The nine-month report dives deep into the latest trends and outlook of #VC funding in #Singapore.🇸🇬 Our General Partner, Andy Hwang, shared his perspective on: the latest trends in Singapore’s #funding landscape, as well as #deeptech; challenges and opportunities in the market; future predictions and how Wavemaker is adapting to the current downturn while still seeing strong deal flow. Big thanks to the teams at Enterprise Singapore and Pitchbook for this opportunity to collaborate.🤝 📚 Explore the full report here: https://lnkd.in/g2dqdEWJ #WavemakerPartners #startups

🎉 Congratulations to our portfolio company, Bifrost AI, for successfully raising its US$8M Series A! Led by Carbide Ventures, the round brings Bifrost’s total capital raised to US$13.7M. We are thrilled to participate in this funding round along with Airbus Ventures, Peak XV Partners’s Surge, MD One Ventures, and Techstars. 🖥 Founded by Charles Wong and Aravind Kandiah, Bifrost is a Generative 3D Data platform which provides #AI training data and #3D simulations. Its physically accurate data generation engine provides the vast real-world scenarios crucial in rapidly training, testing and adapting models in AI and Robotics. 🤖 Read more: https://lnkd.in/gqjEZRKZ #Bifrost #Wavemakers #startup #tech

📌 Please save the date! Our Managing Partner, B. Paul Santos, will speak on the “Building the Next Deep Tech Revolution” panel at SWITCH 2024 on Wednesday, 30 October 2024, from 10:40 AM to 11:20 AM at the Sands Expo and Convention Centre in Singapore. 🇸🇬 The panel will explore recent advancements and key innovations in #deeptech globally, the challenges of financing and scaling these innovations from prototype to market, and insights into emerging technologies poised to disrupt industries. Moderated by Xinyi Tow, Managing Director of Hello Tomorrow Asia Pacific, Paul will share his insights on venture building and investments alongside other notable panelists: ▪ Christian Theriault, Partner at Material Impact ▪ Wen H. Hsieh, Ph.D., Founding Managing Partner at Matter Venture Partners. 🎤 Additionally, Paul will participate as a judge at the SLINGSHOT 2024 Grand Finals, which will also be held on 30 October 2024 at the Sands Expo and Convention Centre. 🌊 We look forward to seeing you there! Singapore Week of Innovation and Technology (SWITCH) is the leading startup festival where global tech and business leaders gather to ignite collaboration and drive innovation. Taking place from 28 to 30 October 2024 at the Sands Expo & Convention Centre, Singapore, guests will explore themes such as AI applications across industries, climate-tech innovations, and growth opportunities for startups. SLINGSHOT is a global #startup competition organised by Enterprise Singapore that provides promising startups a platform to showcase their technology and business ideas, gain early exposure, and secure deals with investors, corporates, industry leaders, mentors, and tech-savvy early adopters. For more information, please visit: https://2024.switchsg.org/ #SWITCH2024 #WavemakerPartners #Wavemakers #vc #climatetech

Tune in to the upcoming CNA documentary on October 25 at 7.30PM, featuring our portfolio company, VFlowTech! ⚡ VFlowTech has created a novel #energy storage system that's transforming life for residents on Pulau Ubin, Singapore 🇸🇬. The documentary dives into how VFlowTech is addressing #climate challenges with its unique technology, sharing their journey of launching the company, overcoming challenges, and pursuing ambitious plans for growth and commercialisation. Don’t miss it! #VFlowTech #Wavemakers #WavemakerPartners #climatetech