JAKARTA — Southeast Asian private equity firm Provident Capital Partners, which has invested in Indonesian ride-hailing platform Gojek and Thai e-commerce startup Pomelo, has raised about $200 million for its second fund, according to people familiar with the matter.
The Provident Growth Fund II investment vehicle is set to achieve its final close in the first quarter of 2020, with the first fund having reached a close of $100 million several months ago, the people said.
The new vehicle will primarily focus on early-to-mid stage technology investments in Southeast Asia, as well as allocating a portion for investments in the rest of Asia.
Provident Capital did not respond to a request for comment.
Founded by former Citigroup Indonesia investment banking executives Winato Kartono and Hardi Wijaya Liong, Provident Capital’s investments are spread across sectors including telecoms, infrastructure, mining, real estate, plantations and biofuels.
Its portfolio companies include listed Indonesian entities such as telecom tower provider Tower Bersama, mining group Merdeka Copper Gold, palm oil producer Provident Agro and palm kernel shell supplier Provident Biofuels.
According to industry sources, Kartono is one of the anchor investors in the fund. In October, DealStreetAsia reported that the International Finance Corporation, a member of the World Bank Group, was likely to join the fund as a limited partner with a proposed $30-million equity investment in Provident Growth Fund II.
Provident Capital was one of the early investors in Gojek’s ongoing series F funding round. Gojek is planning to close the round in January 2020, co-CEO Andre Soelistyo said at an event in Singapore on Nov. 29, to coincide with its first anniversary of operations in the city-state.
The unicorn is set to raise about $2 billion for the round. Gojek made its first close in January this year, led by existing investors Google, JD.com and Tencent, with participation from Mitsubishi Corporation and Provident Capital. The amount raised was not disclosed, but the company was valued at $9.5 billion.
Provident Capital owns a minority stake in JD.ID, a local e-commerce joint venture with China’s JD.com. It also has a logistics joint venture with JD.com, in which it owns a majority stake.
In September this year, Provident Capital backed Pomelo’s $52 million series C funding round to fuel the expansion of its omnichannel fashion brand across Asia. The e-commerce startup secured funds from investors including Central Group, Provident Growth Fund, InterVest Star SEA Growth Fund, Andre Hoffman, Toivo Annus, Lombard Private Equity, Ambient Sound Investments OU and The Luxembourg Company Deverel.
DealStreetAsia is a financial news site based in Singapore focused on corporate investment activity in Southeast Asia and India. Nikkei recently acquired a majority stake in the company.
