M Capital Management closes first $31M VC fund to invest in early-stage startups

Singapore-based venture capital firm M Capital Management has closed its maiden M Venture Partners (MVP) fund at $30.85 million. The fund is sector-agnostic and invests primarily in Southeast Asia and selectively, in India.

It plans to invest mainly in Seed and Pre-Series A companies focused on technology-enabled B2B or B2B2C business models. The fund anticipates investing in about 40 early-stage ventures with an average initial cheque size of about $500,000.

MVP was founded in 2019 by Mayank Parekh, who brings to bear 30 years of professional experience as both a seasoned investor and previously, a top tier management consultant. He is joined by Joachim Ackermann, who builds on his decades of business experience in top global technology firms, most recently as Managing Director of Google Asia-Pacific, as well as with a top-tier management consultancy.

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Senior team members include Dr Tanuja Rajah who joins from Entrepreneur First, and Chethana Ellepola, previously the Research Director at Acquity Stockbrokers.

“We intend to remain sector-agnostic in this maiden fund. However, we are extremely focused on investing in seasoned talent. We seek to partner with entrepreneurs who have pedigree professional experience and strong academic backgrounds. While it may sound simplistic, at this early stage, it’s all about ensuring the talent has the mental acuity, maturity and resilience to build to last,” said Mayank.

To date, MVP claims to have made 11 investments. Portfolio companies include the multi-disciplinary behavioural health coaching startup Naluri; an AI-enabled lending and credit-as-a-service company Impact Credit Solutions; XEN Capital, an alternative investment fund aggregator ‘democratizing investing’; and Cipher Cancer Clinics that deploys an asset-lite and digitally-focused delivery model for more affordable and accessible cancer care in India.

MVP said it has also enjoyed recent success with the public listing of design and 3D metal printing company 3D Metal Forge on the Australian Stock Exchange last week.

“While maintaining Southeast-Asian, broader regional and global aspirations, a majority of our portfolio companies will be Singapore-headquartered. Singapore presents a fabulous venture ecosystem and support network for our entrepreneurs, and an ideal springboard to launch innovative and disruptive technology startups across multiple markets,” added Joachim.