Kickstart intensifies hunt for elusive ‘unicorn’

Ayala group-backed corporate venture capital firm Kickstart Ventures has intensified its hunt for future “unicorns” here and abroad notwithstanding a prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, making use of a fresh $180-million fund to help bankroll early-stage to growth-stage tech startups.

Kickstart, a wholly owned subsidiary of Globe Telecoms, is scouting for innovative companies with compelling, credible and scalable products and is willing to invest around $2 million to as much as $10 million in fresh capital.

Since its inception in 2012, Kickstart has invested in 46 companies, one of which has reached “unicorn” status or an enterprise valuation of at least $1 billion. This company, San Francisco-based artificial intelligence-powered cloud business phone and business contact center Dialpad, is Kickstart’s best bet for an exit via a potential initial public offering (IPO), Kickstart Ventures president Minette Navarrete said in a press briefing on Tuesday.

“Kickstart, by nature, invests in early stage and so it takes a few years before they reach a size that makes it worthwhile listing in the public markets,” she said.

The firm expects to deploy the latest $180-million fund over 10 years. Apart from fresh capital, Kickstart offers post-investment support by building bridges for collaboration with other entities as well as market expansion.

“We fund the future with the visionaries of today. We are investing in things that are at the cusp of being tomorrow’s solution,” said Dan Siazon, Kickstart senior vice president and treasurer.

Once an investee company is ripe for the picking, going through the IPO route is just one exit mechanism option for venture capital firms. The other route is when the company has built enough value to be acquired, such as in the case of coins.ph and Wattpad, which are two of Kickstart’s other investee-companies.

Taking the more tedious IPO route is less attractive as sometimes, strategic acquirers put a higher premium on the startups. INQ

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