Kaya Founders, a Manila, Philippines-based venture capital firm, is today announcing the first close at US$12m in funding across two new funds.
The funding was anchored by the Gokongwei family with participation from institutional investors, family offices, high-net-worth individuals, and prominent entrepreneurs. This brings the total committed capital managed by the firm to $16.5m.
Kaya Founders is targeting $25m across the two new funds. Over the past two years, the firm has primarily made its mark operating in the pre-seed stage, which it will continue to do through the upcoming Zero to One Fund. This pre-seed vehicle will focus on accelerating ventures as early as Day 0, partnering with founders even before they go to market.
The One to Ten Fund, meanwhile, will invest in more mature opportunities ranging from Seed to Series A that show strong signs of product-market fit and a path to profitability.
Kaya Founders anticipates their investments to range from $150k to $500k. While both will remain sector-agnostic, new investment themes, in addition to the aforementioned focus sectors, include D2C eCommerce, B2B marketplaces, future of work, climate tech, and generative AI.
The vehicles will back the next generation of tech-enabled, industry-shaping startups across Southeast Asia. Kaya Founders will be particularly focused on nurturing startups in its home country, the Philippines.
Founded in 2021 by veteran entrepreneurs and angel investors Paulo Campos (former CEO, ZALORA Philippines), Lisa Gokongwei-Cheng (President, Summit Media; Senior Vice President, JG Summit), and Constantin Robertz (CEO, Locad; former CEO, Entrego), Kaya Founders has established itself as the leading early-stage investor in the Philippines. To date, it has 31 companies in its portfolio, spanning eCommerce, digital health, fintech, B2B SaaS, agritech, proptech, and more. Some of its most notable portfolio companies include eCommerce enabler, Etaily, salary-on-demand start-up, Advance, and MSME point of sale (POS) app, Peddlr.
FinSMEs
14/06/2023