Singapore’s state-owned investment company Temasek Holdings is an investor in Brazil-based venture capital manager monashees Capital’s eighth fund, which raised US$150 million to invest in technology firms looking to tap opportunities in key sectors in Latin America.
Other investors in the fund include US asset manager Brandywine Trust Group, San Francisco-based hedge fund Horsley Bridge Partners, US family office S-Cubed Capital, the University of Minnesota, and several Brazilian high-net-worth families and groups, monashees Capital, the largest venture capital company in Latin America, says in a statement on November 7.
It did not provide a breakdown of the individual amounts raised from the investors.
“With the closing of Fund VIII, monashees will continue to identify and invest in visionary founders who are capitalising on global trends and using technology to solve important problems and address large market opportunities in Latin America,” the company says, adding that it will focus particularly on areas such as transportation and logistics, financial services and healthcare.
“With the market opportunity stronger than ever, we are eager to continue supporting bold founders as they build the companies that will drive the future of the region,” Eric Acher, managing partner and co-founder of monashees Capital, says in the statement.
Temasek Holdings, which has a 1% allocation to Latin America, is looking to increase investments in the region.
A spokesperson for Temasek Holdings tells Asia Asset Management that the company’s venture capital strategy has the flexibility to invest across all stages of a business life cycle.
The company tends to invest in funds that “help us gain deeper insights into new markets or sectors, and provide co-investment opportunities”, the spokesperson says. He declines to say how much Temasek Holdings invested in the monashees fund.
According to its investment review in August, Temasek Holdings is eyeing Latin American companies that “are proxies to transform economies such as financial services and infrastructures”.
Temasek Holdings had approximately S$308 billion (US$224.3 billion) of total assets under management (AUM) as of March 2018, while monashees Capital currently has total AUM of $430 million.