Meet Kaya Founders! They’re an early-stage investment VC firm based in the Philippines with over 30 SEA-based startups in their portfolio. And they just raised $12M across two new funds.

• This brings their total committed capital to $16.5M, with a target of $25M by fund close.
  
• They’ll use the $$$ to fund local companies, as well as startups across SEA.
• The Gokongwei family led the funding, while some institutional investors, family offices, individuals, and entrepreneurs joined in.

People to know. Ex-Zalora Philippines CEO Paolo Campos, Summit Media president Lisa Gokongwei-Cheng, and Locad co-founder and CEO Constantin Robertz founded the firm in 2021.  

•  Ex-Lazada Philippines CEO Ray Alimurung and Lisa are General Partners, while Paolo is Managing General Partner. 

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🎲 The game plan

Similar to Antler’s approach, Kaya’s two new funds will invest in startups at different stages. 

• Their Zero to One fund will go to pre-seed companies, while their One to Ten fund will invest in startups from seed stage to Series A. 

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🚀 More than funding

Startups in the Philippines usually receive funding from corporate VCs. But not anymore!

• Well-known foreign VC firms like Peak XV Partners aka Seqouia (Locad), KKR (Growsari), SoftBank Ventures (Sprout Solutions), and Tiger Global (PDAX) have made their first investments in the Philippines. 
• Kaya—along with Foxmont Capital Partners, Kickstart Ventures, and Gentree Fund—is one of the few Filipino VCs actively investing in the local market.  

Keys to success. Kaya connects entrepreneurs with prominent CEOs and investors for mentorship and strategy-building.

• The firm also has a network of investors, partners, beta testers, and pilot customers. Oh, and they help with recruiting and legal compliance!

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💸 What the future holds? 

Kaya will use their Zero to One fund to invest $150K to $250K in 20 to 30 pre-seed companies. Their One to Ten fund will go to 30 to 40 startups who can receive up to $500K in funding.