Venture Capital

Helping investors and founders through the entire investment lifecycle

KWM's dedicated venture capital team supports VC investors, founders and their companies in early, mid, and late-stage investments. We have structured and executed more than US$4b of international investments.

With deep knowledge of upcoming and emerging companies in innovative sectors such as software, digital technology, fintech, medtech, healthtech, agritech and climatech, we support investors and founders with a tailor-made, risk-adjusted approach to each deal.

Working on some of the most high-profile deals in the APAC region, we understand the tech ecosystems and market practice. Our cross-border team's market leading expertise allows us to focus on key due diligence hotspots and potential roadblocks that may emerge.

Our VC and startup expertise covers the entire investment lifecycle

Venture Capital capability

Venture capital transactions require expertise across multiple practice areas. We leverage our market-leading specialist teams across intellectual property, regulatory, banking, tax and employment teams to focus on the key issues and efficiently execute deals across the APAC region.

We understand the importance of being cost-effective and we can tailor fee scopes to align with the needs of founders and VC investors across all stages of fundraising (including exits). In doing so, we leverage LegalTech tools to optimise processes to ensure transactions are executed effectively and on time.

Our experience

South-East Asian transactions

• MUFG Bank: on its US$200m investment in and strategic collaboration with Southeast Asia FinTech unicorn Akulaku
• 01Fintech: on its Series C investment into a leading payments infrastructure platform
• Axiata Digital Services:
  • US$70m investment by Great Eastern into ADS. This represents the largest investment in a Malaysian fintech to date
  • US$60m investment by Softbank into Axiata Digital Advertising (ADA), the digital advertising arm of the Axiata group, and associated M&A for ADA into an e-commerce fulfilment provider
  • ADA on its US$20m acquisition of AwakeAsia and ongoing integration work across Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, Vietnam and Indonesia
  • strategic investment with Milvik AB and distribution arrangements for Southeast Asia
• Inligo Networks: Series Seed financing
• REA Group:
  • on the increase in its ownership interest in Elara Technologies, India’s fastest growing digital real estate business by audience reach
  • on the divestment of its Malaysia and Thai businesses to PropertyGuru and its participation as a cornerstone investor in PropertyGuru’s de-SPAC, with a market value of US$1.78b