- Nader Albastaki, Managing Director, Dubai Future District Fund
- Huai Fong Chew, Regional Lead, East Asia & the Pacific Funds, International Finance Corporation
- Johan Rozali-Wathooth, Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director, Bintang Capital Partners Berhad
- Brian Lam, Portfolio Manager, Private Equity Group, J.P. Morgan Asset Management
- Peter Rosenbloom, Managing Director, Head of Asia Pacific, Hunter Point Capital
- Andi Haswidi, Head of Data & Research, DealStreetAsia [Moderator]
Asia’s fundraising market is becoming increasingly unforgiving. Capital is concentrating with larger, established managers just as first-time, emerging and mid-market GPs struggle to reach closes, build institutional teams and survive longer fundraising cycles. Yet the paradox is that smaller and earlier funds can also be important sources of alpha, differentiated sourcing and the next generation of investment franchises. For LPs, the question is therefore not simply whether emerging managers can outperform, but whether they can justify taking the additional team, attribution, governance and platform risk when liquidity remains constrained and backing an established name is the easier decision. What does a new manager now need to prove before an institutional LP will write the first cheque? How should LPs distinguish a genuine spin-out or specialist edge from another undifferentiated Fund I? What role can anchor capital, co-investments, smaller fund sizes and catalytic institutions play in reducing the risk? And if every allocator waits for somebody else to establish the track record, who will finance Asia’s next generation of leading private-market firms?
