Southeast Asia Venture Capital News

June 1, 2023

Thought Leadership: Amy Zhao at the ORIGIN Conference

Amy Zhao, our Executive Director and Ocular Fund Lead, stood out with her participation as a speaker at the prestigious ORIGIN Conference along with the other esteemed panelists

May 25, 2023

The Craft: Andy Walshe on Human Performance

In our newest episode of The Craft, Hian speaks to Andy Walsh on the topics of improving human performance, handling pressure and collecting data on human performance.

May 24, 2023

Meet The Team: Skylla

In this week's Meet The Team, our Office Administrator, Skylla, shares more about herself, from her passion for live-streaming to her goal of making a positive change on others' lives. She handles most of the day-to-day operations at Openspace and makes sure that there's always enough snacks in the pantry.

May 20, 2023

Our Recommendations: Steal Like An Artist

"Steal Like an Artist" is a compelling and thought-provoking book by Austin Kleon that presents a fresh perspective on creativity and encourages readers to embrace their own artistic potential. The book argues that creativity is not about generating entirely original ideas but rather about embracing influence, remixing existing ideas, and transforming them into something new.

May 18, 2023

Capabilities Focus: Dr Yiliang Zhao on Data in Openspace

At Openspace, we are driven by Active Intelligence, where real-time data drives the investing decisions we make. We prioritise the use of data in helping both the Openspace office as well as for our portfolio companies. As such, we'd like to shine a spotlight on the use of data here at Openspace, with help from our Director for Data Science, Dr Yiliang Zhao.

May 17, 2023

Meet The Team: Juancho

In this week's edition of Meet The Team, we learn a little more about Juancho, our Senior Associate who sources for investment opportunities and oversees our portfolio companies in the Philippines. Read on to learn more about his love for food and his experience with the Openspace family.

May 12, 2023

Our Recommendations: The Design Matters Podcast

Design Matters is a podcast that stands out as a captivating and insightful exploration of the world of design.

May 9, 2023

Portco Feature: Kumu

Today, we're sharing more about our portfolio company, Kumu. Kumu is a social entertainment app based in the Philippines, being the largest live-streaming company in the country. We're asking them more about how they support and empower their users, as we think they have valuable learning points that other startups and creators and learn from.

May 6, 2023

Recommendation: The Happiness Project

As we enter May, we'd like to recommend a read of "The Happiness Project" by Gretchen Rubin.

May 4, 2023

Founding Partner Shane Chesson is elected Vice-Chairman of SVCA

Openspace is glad to be an active participant in the Singapore Venture & Private Capital Association (“SVCA”), spearheaded by Founding Partner, Shane Chesson, who has been on the Board since 2020 and is now helping to shape the agenda after his recent election as Vice-Chairman. We extend our congrats to Shane, Sunil Mishra as Chairman and the other board members elected

May 3, 2023

Meet The Team: Dennis

In this week's Meet The Team, Dennis from our investment team shares more about himself as well as his experience at Openspace, from his passion for mathematics to his prior work experience.

April 26, 2023

Portfolio Company Feature: Janji Jiwa

Today we're featuring Janji Jiwa, a coffee chain from Indonesia that has made a name for itself not just for its delicious food and beverages, but also for its exceptional hospitality

April 21, 2023

Recommendation: the Unthinkable podcast

The Unthinkable podcast is a show that explores the unexpected events and circumstances that can turn our lives upside down

April 14, 2023

Recommendation: the Hidden Brain Podcast

We're recommending Hidden Brain as a podcast to listen to this week

April 13, 2023

Capabilities Focus: Nicole on Investor Relations

At Openspace, we like to shine a spotlight on various members of our team to highlight their strengths, as well as showcase various aspects of what we do on a day-to-day basis. This week, we ask Nicole, who handles investor relations, for several pieces of advice when it comes to the subject.

April 11, 2023

Portfolio Company Feature: Love Bonito

We're featuring our portfolio company, Love, Bonito, on the Openspace blog today, being a case study of a highly successful womenswear company from Singapore which has achieved notable global recognition.

February 9, 2023

Capabilities Focus: Wenbo Zong on Tech & Engineering

We’re starting a new series called Capabilities Focus, which is highlighting members of our Portfolio Success team and the integral role they play at Openspace and for our portfolio companies.

February 8, 2023

The Craft Revisited: Rory Sutherland on Alchemy

This week, we’re revisiting a previous episode of The Craft, where Hian, our General Partner, discusses behavioral psychology with Rory Sutherland - author of Alchemy and Vice Chairman of the Oglivy group. Here are 5 key takeaways we gained from their conversation:

December 23, 2022

Happy Holidays, from us to you

From everyone at Openspace to everyone we have the heartfelt pleasure of knowing or working with.

July 27, 2022

New Craft Episode 🔥: Nir Eyal On Habits

In this episode of The Craft, Jessica talks to Nir Eyal about habits. He's behavioural design consultant, investor, entrepreneur and author of the seminal book ‘Hooked’.

June 14, 2022

New The Craft episode - Chris Lemons on Courage 💪

In this episode, Shane Chesson talks to Chris Lemons, a saturation diver and subject of the Netflix documentary, Last Breath.

March 8, 2022

Stronger through diversity: Openspace on International Women’s Day 2022

At Openspace, we see diversity as both a social and business imperative. It’s because we believe that by valuing diversity, we will encourage more diverse idea exchange–a fundamental element of our firm’s Active Intelligence philosophy.

January 20, 2022

The Flow will Grow: Why We're Excited About Vietnam

Openspace has always had a pure-play regional focus in Southeast Asia and are excited by what we are beginning to see in the start-up ecosystems in Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. To dig deeper, we recently sat down to have a conversation with the team overseeing Openspace’s activity on-the-ground in Vietnam to understand what’s going on.

December 31, 2021

Shane Chesson Reflects on 2021

Our co-founder, Shane Chesson reflects on a few surprises and key developments in the firm over the past twelve months, as well as muses over his 3 expectations for 2022.

January 12, 2022

Pluang Secures Additional $55M in Funding

Pluang, the all-in-one fractional investing app that has become one of Southeast Asia’s fastest growing fintech startups, has raised $55 million in a funding round led by Accel, with participation from Openspace.

September 16, 2021

Openspace leads the $12M Series A for SCB Abacus, as they continue to create better access to finance in Thailand

We’re thrilled to announce that we’ve led the oversubscribed $12M Series A for SCB Abacus, an alternative digital lending platform in Thailand.

May 17, 2021

Nano, a Y-combinator-backed Vietnamese start-up, raised $3m to help employers gain an edge in the labour market

Traditional employers of blue-collar workers such as retailers, hospitality, and manufacturers (especially in textile, garment, shoes) have seen their recruiting costs gone up while employee retention rates have trended down in the past few years, putting pressure on both P&L and organizational stability for growth.

March 12, 2021

Openspace Ventures closes third fund at hard cap of US$200m

Openspace Ventures is pleased to announce the final close of Openspace Ventures III, L.P. on 26 Feb 2021, with total subscriptions accepted at US$200 million.

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