Formation of the ASEAN Venture Council

Cemoro Lawang, East Java, Indonesia: Farmers loading a truck at Cemoro Lawang Village. Photo courtesy wikimedia user Cccefalon

Singapore Venture Capital & Private Equity Association (SVCA) and the Indonesia Venture Capital & Startup Association (AMVESINDO) announces the formation of the ASEAN Venture Council (AVC)

The Singapore Venture Capital and Private Equity Association (SVCA) and the Asosiasi Modal Ventura Untuk Startup Indonesia (AMVESINDO) jointly announced the formation of the ASEAN Venture Council. A signing of a Memorandum of Understanding was held this morning at Indonesian Convention Exhibition BSD in Tangerang, Banten, Indonesia and was graced by President Jokowi Widodo of the Republic of Indonesia.

The MOU establishes the intention of SVCA and AMVESINDO to collaborate and leverage each other’s strengths, synergies and best practices in a bid to further strengthen, promote and support the regional entrepreneurial and financial ecosystem across ASEAN. In particular, the ASEAN Venture Council is intended to assist its member associations and their members promote venture capital across the region. This is set against an industry that has seen phenomenal growth in the past few years with the bulk of deals being cross-border in nature.

The ASEAN Venture Council will be an umbrella organisation consisting of venture associations interested in the promotion of the ASEAN Venture Capital Ecosystem. It is intended to enable its member associations to promote and develop the venture capital industry in a more concerted effort across the region leveraging each other’s strengths and capabilities – particularly in the areas of events, advocacy, research, education and deal flow.

“The SVCA is proud to be associated with the ASEAN Venture Council and looks forward to supporting the Council in its future activities,” said Mr Ku Kay Mok, Committee Member of the SVCA and Partner, Gobi Partners (ASEAN). “Indonesia is one of the hotbeds for startups in the ASEAN region as the country is expected to become the largest digital economy in the region by 2025, thus having AMVESINDO as an anchor member together with SVCA will make a strong start for the Council.”

Jefri Sirait, the chairman of AMVESINDO commented, “as ASEAN countries continue to work together to achieve tighter economic integration, AMVESINDO believes that the Indonesian VC and startup community will become greater and stronger through cooperation and synergies with our sister associations in the region. We look forward to contributing and working together with SVCA to make the ASEAN Venture Council a success.”

“As the ASEAN venture community continues to grow and new associations in the region begin to form, the SVCA has been working on setting up a forum such as the ASEAN Venture Council for a couple of years now and I am pleased that it has achieved this significant milestone,” said Dr. Jeffrey Chi, Chairman of the SVCA and Vice Chairman of Vickers Venture Partners. Dr. Chi adds, “This also marks a great opportunity for VCs operating from Singapore to solidify their businesses to position themselves better in the region which will help bolster growth and success of the regional VC industry.”