With Jefrey Joe, Co-Founder & General Partner, Alpha JWC Ventures
Nicholas Cator, Founder & Managing Partner, Venturi Partners
Deepak Shahdadpuri, Founder and Managing Director, DSG Consumers Partners
The COVID-19 crisis has accelerated digitalisation of consumer-oriented businesses as movement curbs meant people were ordering products and services online. Some of these user behaviours may well outlast the pandemic and businesses are beginning to shift towards an omni-channel approach to reach consumers across multiple touch points. How are consumer businesses adapting to this change? Which are the categories that are seeing explosive growth even during the pandemic? What are some of the pandemic-induced user behaviours likely to stay in the long-term? How are VCs assessing the investment potential and exit horizon in consumption play?
Alpha JWC’s Jefrey Joe, Venturi Partners’s Nicholas Cator and DSG Consumers Partners founder and managing director Deepak Shahdadpuri will share their insights on how they view the consumption story unfolding in South Asia.
Singapore-based Venturi Partners has secured the first close of its India- and Southeast Asia-focused consumer fund at $100 million. Venturi Partners Fund I will focus on investments in FMCG, education, and healthcare services. The fund made its maiden investment in Livspace, an Indian online home design firm, last year. Cator, a long-time executive at Belgium’s family-owned investment firm Verlinvest SA, launched Venturi Partners in 2019.
Jakarta-based Alpha JWC is raising a $300-million new fund that is targeting to invest in new consumer-oriented models and fintech sectors from the seed to Series B stages. Alpha JWC’s prominent portfolio firms include coffee chain Kopi Kenangan, B2B e-commerce platform GudangAda, and online brokerage firm Ajaib. The third fund will put Alpha JWC among a handful of Southeast Asian VCs that have raised over $200 million for a vehicle. Prior to co-founding Alpha JWC, Jefrey was the COO of Groupon Indonesia where he focused on technology, customer experience, and logistics. Jefrey also co-founded Alterra, Indonesia’s pioneer online bill payment aggregator company. Jefrey has been an angel investor in early-stage tech startups in Asia and United States.
Shahdadpuri, who will also moderate the session, has over 15 years experience in private equity investing. Before DSGCP, he co-founded and managed the Beacon India Private Equity Fund and GEM India. He currently serves on multiple boards including Veeba Food Services, Raw Pressery, Eazydiner, Mswipe, Sula Wines, Impresario, Epigamia, IndoStar Capital, Furtados, Saraf Foods, India Lends and Saffronart.Join this session for a comprehensive outlook on the consumption story in the region.
