ICCP unit raising fund

ICCP VENTURE Partners (IVP) plans to raise as much as $100 million in venture capital funds together with the SBI Group of Japan, which recently took up a 35-percent equity in the local firm.

“We expect to get the venture capital fund going by the end of the year. The SBI Group has already infused equity into the venture capital company (IVP) and we will do the fund raising together. By the end of the year, we should already have $50 million to $100 million. We’re in our sixth fund. We’ve raised six (global) funds and so this (fundraising with SBI) will be our seventh,” IVP founder, chair and CEO Guillermo D. Luchangco told the Inquirer.

It was announced last week that SBI, Japan’s largest internet financial and venture capital group, had signed an agreement with the IVP to acquire 35 percent of the local firm and become a co-fund manager in its latest fund raising activity.

SBI is a Tokyo Stock Exchange-listed financial services conglomerate, with subsidiaries and offices in China, Taiwan, Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, and Vietnam.

IVP meanwhile is a leading Philippine-based practitioner of venture capital-type investing. It is invested in Silicon Valley as well as in Philippine companies.

The collaboration between SBI and IVP is expected to bring in increased funding opportunities not only for the Philippines but also for other Asian countries. Amy R. Remo