TNB Aura looking to invest $30M in PH startups

Southeast Asia-focused venture capital firm TNB Aura is looking to invest some $30 million in Philippine startups in the next three years, banking on the continued emergence of the country’s ecosystem moving forward.

This, as the company expects the Philippines to catch up with more developed markets.

“To be frank, as TNB Aura, we want to allocate out of our latest fund which just launched, we plan to allocate a good 20% of our fund towards Philippines. I would say it’s anywhere between $30 million or so, but naturally, we only want to do good investments,” said TNB Aura co-founder and managing partner Vicknesh Pillay

“We really like the patterns which we have seen which are emerging in the Philippines, so we are very excited to kind of play a bigger part here,” he added.

TNB Aura, which describes itself as a “sector-agnostic” venture capital firm based in Singapore, said it is looking for founders who want to be part of a “new era of future-defining growth” in Southeast Asia. Its portfolio includes Philippine-based AcadArena and Salmon Group.

“There’s quite a few things that we’re looking at. I think the Philippines, because there’s so much growth and there’s also so many issues, and there’s so much opportunity for very enterprising founders to create the next big companies here,” TNB Aura managing partner and head of Philippines David Bonifacio said.

“There’s a lot more to do in the healthcare space. I mean, consumer space, we’re definitely always looking for stuff there just because the market’s there. Financial services, we like that space. We’ll look at anything. Education, we’re heavy investors in the education space in other countries, so if we can help bring that solution here, that’d be great,” he added.

PH market

Driving the optimism, Bonifacio said, is that while the Philippine market is still in its early stages, the country has a very young demographic which will spur more founders and in turn, boost and improve the ecosystem.

“The deals tend to be new, a little smaller than maybe in the region and of course maybe in the world, but we believe that in time it will grow as the founders also grow,” he said.

“If things get better, the execution gets better, so we expect the new startups to be more like the types that we would invest in versus just like hyped up deals. I think we really feel like it’s good to come in and be part of the growing process of the industry,” he added.

TNB Aura has also partnered with GMA Ventures Inc., the investment arm of GMA Network Inc., with the two parties directly investing in firms that they both believe in.

“I think you can expect a couple more deals next year that we’ll both do together. Hopefully a lot more deals,” Bonifacio said.

“I think that collaboration where you have a local fund, a strong local fund, very respectable, lots of partners, creative strong network, then you have a regional fund, then I think that combination creates startups that are better supported, (with) new opportunities around. That’s what we’re hoping to continue to grow, do more deals in the future,” he added.

GMA News Online is the official news platform of GMA Network Inc.

—VAL, GMA Integrated News