Genesis Alternative Ventures Research
Investment Thesis
Genesis Alternative Ventures is Southeast Asia's leading independent venture debt provider, offering non-dilutive financing to venture and growth-stage technology companies that are already backed by tier-one venture capital firms. Founded in 2019 by Dr Jeremy Loh, Ben J Benjamin, and Martin Tang, the firm positions itself as a team of "venture lending pioneers" who help founders extend runway, hit milestones, and raise future equity rounds at higher valuations while minimizing dilution of the founder's ownership stake. Genesis lends against a company's growth trajectory and existing VC backing rather than traditional bank collateral, making it a complementary rather than competitive source of capital alongside equity investors.
Stage Focus
Genesis targets venture and growth-stage companies, with the firm's own positioning describing its typical borrower as being at Series B or C. In practice the portfolio spans a wider range, including companies that took on venture debt shortly after Series A rounds (e.g., RateS, Pace) through to companies well past Series B (e.g., Trusting Social, Una Brands, HappyFresh).
Check Size
Genesis does not publish a standard check size range. Facility sizes are structured as debt commitments rather than equity checks and vary significantly by company; the firm's Superbank partnership earmarked up to US$40M (IDR 600 billion) as a program-level pool for Indonesian startups rather than a single-company check size, so no confident min/max figure is extracted here.
Lead Tendency
As a venture debt lender rather than an equity investor, "leading a round" in the traditional sense does not apply. Genesis typically acts as the primary or sole venture debt provider alongside a syndicate of equity investors; lead tendency is best classified as unknown/not applicable in equity terms.
Recent Activity
Genesis has been actively deploying capital from Fund II (closed at US$125M in September 2024, versus a US$150M target), with Fund II having already deployed over US$20M across Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines as of the fund-close announcement, including one completed warrant exit. In August 2023, Genesis partnered with Indonesian digital bank Superbank to launch a dedicated US$40M venture debt program for Indonesian startups. Fund I closed at US$80M in April 2021, having already deployed over US$30M to 12 venture-backed companies across Southeast Asia at the time of close.
Portfolio Highlights
Genesis's portfolio spans roughly 35 companies across Southeast Asia and touches fintech (Akulaku, a unicorn; Trusting Social; Pace; Flow), e-commerce and D2C brands (Una Brands, Etaily, Sirclo, HappyFresh, RateS, Perromart, Vetreska, Believe), proptech (GoWork, Habyt/Hmlet, Pinhome, Soul Parking), logistics (Deliveree, Eezee), robotics and hardware (BotSync, Aonic, Transcelestial), and healthtech (Zenyum, Lucence). Notable outcomes include Matterport's 2021 SPAC-driven public listing and Horangi Cyber Security's 2023 acquisition by Bitdefender. Portfolio companies generally represent the pipeline of tier-one VC-backed startups that Genesis lends against, rather than companies Genesis leads on the equity side.
Team
- Dr Jeremy Loh — Co-Founder & Managing Partner. Former SVP at DBS Bank and VP Investments at EDBI. University of Strathclyde.
- Ben J Benjamin — Co-Founder & Partner.
- Martin Tang — Co-Founder & Partner. Former VP at DBS Bank. Studied Economics and Finance at Curtin University.
- Eddy Ng — Partner.
- Advisory Board: Victor Sassoon, Dr Tommy Tan, Tony Huang, Philip Yeo (former Chairman, Singapore Economic Development Board), Leon Yee.
Decision Process
Genesis operates as a small partnership of three co-founders plus a partner and advisory board, consistent with a partnership-style decision process for underwriting and approving debt facilities.
Founder Preferences
Genesis backs founders who have already secured backing from tier-one venture capital firms and are pursuing capital-efficient growth strategies — using debt to extend runway and hit milestones ahead of a future equity raise, rather than to fund cash-burn without a credible equity narrative.
Geographic Focus
Singapore-headquartered, with a portfolio and lending focus concentrated on Southeast Asia: Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vietnam. Limited partners are drawn more globally, including Japan (Aozora Bank, Mizuho Bank, Mizuho Leasing), South Korea (Korea Development Bank), and global investors (OurCrowd, Silverhorn, Capria).
Headquarters & Fund Status
Genesis is headquartered at 211 Henderson Rd. #10-03, Singapore 159552. The firm is currently deploying from Fund II (US$125M, closed September 2024) and is actively deploying.