Vulcan Capital plans to target Southeast Asian ventures to then use the returns for its philanthropic causes

Vulcan Capital, Seattle-based investment company founded by Paul Allen, the late co-founder of Microsoft Corp, has commenced operation of its first international office in Singapore, Bloomberg has learned.

Vulcan Capital brings along an initial US$100 million investment targeting startups in Southeast Asia.

The investment will be allocated to seed, Series A, and Series B stages startups in Southeast Asia, particularly in Indonesia, Vietnam, and Singapore.

The firm has hired financiers Tommy Teo and Minjie Yu as managing directors to lead Singapore’s office.

Teo, who formerly worked at Singapore-based private equity firm Northstar Group and Citigroup Inc., said that the fund will be directed to a broad range of areas including financial services, real estate technology, and consumer internet.

Also Read: Grab in talks to raise another US$1B for expansion in Southeast Asia

Vulcan Capital has stated that all the returns from those investments will go directly into its broad range of philanthropic projects, including climate change and wildlife conservation in Africa. This approach, the company hopes, will attract young and mission-driven startup founders in the region.

Vulcan Capital, now CEO-ed by Bill Hilf, is a part of Vulcan Inc., which oversees Paul Allen’s holdings and supports his causes such as elephant conservation to artificial intelligence research. It’s said that Vulcan took almost three years to decide on Singapore as an Asian base ensuring that it covers every base to hold a high standard around Paul Allen’s name as a brand.

Although new to the operation based in the region, Vulcan Capital has been known as one of Grab’s backers, participating in its US$1 billion funding round back in August 2018 alongside investors OppenheimerFunds and Ping An Capital.

Vulcan Capital also invested in the US$60 million third fund of Wavemaker Partners, Southeast Asia’s early-stage VC firm focussed on enterprise and deep-tech startups.

In 2018, Allen passed away and left a US$26.1 billion fortune that is still in the process to transform from a management company to an estate trust, something with a complexity that Hilf said could take close to a decade.

Also Read: As compared to a few years ago, we don’t have to answer ‘why SEA?’ as much: Wavemaker’s Paul Santos

The anticipation of 5G only makes Southeast Asia all the more attractive market for international players, which now has been confirmed by the arrival of Vulcan Capital.

“There are some really powerful players here,’” Hilf said. “I think we are going to leapfrog in connectivity in a way that most people are not even predicting.”

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Image Credit: Microsoft

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