What Wavemaker Ventures does

Wavemaker Ventures is Southeast Asia's leading early-stage venture capital firm, operating as the early-stage investment arm of Wavemaker Partners with US$500M in assets under management across 5 funds. Founded in 2012, the firm has invested in 200+ portfolio companies spanning Southeast Asia, South Asia, Australia, and New Zealand, with cumulative exits worth US$2B+ in enterprise value across transactions including TradeGecko (acquired by Intuit for US$80M), Wavecell (acquired by 8x8 for US$125M), Luxola (acquired by LVMH), and Moka (acquired by Gojek).

The firm pursues an "unobvious opportunities" investment thesis, targeting undervalued companies building 10x-better solutions for meaningful regional problems in Enterprise, Deep Tech, and Sustainability. Investments range from Seed to Series A, with selected participation in growth-stage opportunities via the Wavemaker Growth fund (US$30M first close in 2025) and a dedicated climate vehicle that spun off as 100x100 Group in October 2025. Deal sourcing relies on founder networks, referrals, and corporate innovation partnerships rather than competitive deal processes.

The leadership team comprises three General Partners — Paul Santos (founding partner, ex-Procter & Gamble, appointed to Enterprise Singapore's board and the Monetary Authority of Singapore's Enterprise and Markets Workstream), Eric Manlunas (co-founder, ex-Arthur Andersen, multi-time operator), and Andy Hwang (ex-Facebook where he led SMB/mid-market advertising to 2M+ customers and US$6B in revenue; also Google and Stripe) — supported by an investment team of principals, VPs, and associates across Singapore, the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, Australia, and New Zealand. The firm generates returns through equity stakes realized via portfolio company M&A or IPOs, with management fees and carried interest constituting the conventional VC revenue model. Notable recent lead investments include pQCee (US$3.9M seed, quantum-safe cybersecurity), ChemT Biotechnology (US$4M seed, AI-driven biomanufacturing), DataMasque (US$4M seed, data de-identification), and Featherless.ai (US$20M Series A co-led with AMD Ventures and Airbus Ventures, serverless AI inference).

Name

Wavemaker Ventures

Legal name

Wavemaker Ventures

Website

https://wavemaker.vc

Company type

Private

Founded year

2012

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Wavemaker Ventures is Southeast Asia's leading early-stage venture capital firm, deploying US$500M across five funds into 200+ Enterprise, Deep Tech, and Sustainability startups from Seed to Series A in Southeast Asia, South Asia, Australia, and New Zealand.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Early-Stage Venture Capital

NAICS

Portfolio Management and Investment Advice (52394), All Other Financial Investment Activities (52399)

SIC

Investment Advice (6282)

akta.pro primary industry

Sector-Focused Venture Capital (Vertical Specialists) (FSANAAAD)

akta.pro secondary industry

Early-Stage Venture Capital (Series A/B) (FSANAAAB)

Keywords

• Venture capital investing
• Early-stage startup funding
• Seed to series A
• Portfolio management services
• Startup investment firm

Headquarters

HQ city

Singapore

HQ country

Singapore

HQ region

Asia

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Investment Returns: Wavemaker Ventures generates returns through equity investments in early-stage startups. Returns are realized through portfolio company exits via acquisitions or IPOs. Notable exits include Wavecell (acquired by 8x8 for $125M), TradeGecko (acquired by Intuit for $80M), Luxola (acquired by LVMH), Moka (acquired by Gojek), and Red Dot Payment (acquired by PayU/Naspers). The firm has generated exits worth over US$2 billion in enterprise value.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Wavemaker Ventures is Southeast Asia's leading early-stage venture capital firm that provides equity investment capital and portfolio support to startups in the Enterprise, Deep Tech, and Sustainability sectors. The firm invests from Seed to Series A stages and supports founders through fundraising, strategic guidance, network access, and operational scaling.

Product overview

Wavemaker Ventures is Southeast Asia's leading early-stage venture capital firm specializing in Enterprise, Deep Tech, and Sustainability startups. The firm does not offer products in the traditional software/SaaS sense; rather, it provides investment funding, strategic partnership, and portfolio support services to early-stage companies. As part of Wavemaker Partners, it has invested in over 200 companies across the region since 2012, with total assets under management of US$500M and 5 funds raised.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Wavemaker Impact: Climate venture-building fund (spun off in 2025 as 100x100)
• Wavemaker Growth

Products and services

• Wavemaker Ventures Early-Stage Fund

Quantifiable outcome

• 200+ companies invested since 2012
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers7 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Market position

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/wavemakerpartners
• Instagraminstagram.com/wavemaker_partners
• Xx.com/wavemaker_vc
• Facebookfacebook.com/wavemakerpartners

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles9 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments587 records

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Wavemaker Ventures