P 1-B PH start-up fund wins support

Prominent Filipino businessmen have joined Foxmont Capital Partner’s ongoing efforts to raise $20 million or P1 billion to bankroll local start-ups.

Foxmont said its Venture Fund II was “significantly backed” by Filipinos, including Monde Nissin CEO Henry Soesanto, JG Summit Holdings chief finance and risk officer Brian Go and Rajan Uttamchandani of Esquire Financial, among other unnamed institutional investors.

Foxmont announced the initial close of the fund with $12 million in committed capital. A final close for the $20 million was expected in the future, it added.

“With Fund II, Foxmont Capital Partners will continue investing in Philippine-focused and Filipino-founded early stage start-ups that have proven that they can scale effectively and lead the Philippine digital evolution,” the company said in a statement on Monday.

The firm has made 25 investments, with recent additions being social commerce platform SariSuki, export enabler 1Export, tech talent platform StackTrek, and digital ledger and point-of-sales app Peddlr.

Foxmont Capital Partners was established in 2018 and positions itself as a Philippine-focused venture capital firm that invests in “scalable start-ups in rapidly digitizing areas.”

One of its best-known bets is Kumu, the popular live-streaming app co-founded by Rexy Josh Dorado and Roland Ros.

Foxmont said its first fund that invested in Kumu, cloud kitchen Kraver’s Canteen, e-commerce firm Etaily and “mother-centric community driven marketplace” edamama has tripled returns to investors. INQ