What’s Flipkart to Lee Fixel or Alibaba to Masayoshi Son? That one lucky bet that lent these venture investors the reputation of being able to sniff out opportunities where no one else saw them.
Few hit a home run with their very first deal, though. Yet somehow, the Southeast Asian VC firm East Ventures did just that. In 2010, shortly after its formation, its partners came across a young but promising Indonesian e-commerce startup. That company, Tokopedia, is now valued at US$7 billion.
It was the first of a series of investments that catapulted the newcomer VC onto the global radar.