nVentures Research
Investment Thesis
nVentures is a Singapore-based early-stage venture fund that backs B2B startups in South Asia and Southeast Asia, branded around "Backing Audacious Underdogs". Its stated belief is that world-class companies can be built anywhere, and that the job of the fund is to find founders before they become obvious. Fund I focused on B2B fintech under the banner "Founders for Founders". Fund II, currently raising, is an enterprise AI and B2B software seed fund: practical AI for banks, insurers, distributors and operators who buy software because it pays for itself.
The partners describe themselves as founders, operators and builders who have raised capital, pivoted, run out of runway, scaled teams and exited. That experience shapes how they invest: they emphasise integrity, urgency, accountability and endurance in founders, and say risk-taking and skin in the game are paramount.
Stage Focus
Pre-seed and seed. Fund I's portfolio entries were seed bets from 2021 to 2025. Fund II targets roughly 20 investments.
Check Size
USD 100K to 500K per cheque in Fund II. Fund II target size is USD 10M and it is open and raising now. Fund I (vintage 2021) is fully deployed with 13 investments.
Lead Tendency
Not stated on the site. Portfolio testimonials describe the team as hands-on, helping founders find new investors and distribution channels. Founders say nVentures was the first to back Kaiju Labs. Lead tendency is recorded as unknown.
Recent Activity
Fund I is closed and fully deployed. The most recent Fund I investments listed are Dossiers (Oct 2024) and HybridAI (Jan 2025). Tracxn lists two 2026 investments, Corca and Flash Health, which the firm's own site does not confirm. Fund II is actively raising and investing.
Portfolio Highlights
Two institutional exits to date, both seed investments:
- WealthOS, a cloud-native, API-first core wealth management platform founded by a Sri Lankan team targeting the UK, acquired by JPMorgan Chase & Co.
- Kaiju Labs, wallet-as-a-service for Web3 games and apps, acquired by KAST Finance within 20 months. It raised from Tenity and received Ripple grants.
Other Fund I companies include Mindler (career guidance SaaS, India), Mintpay (Sri Lanka's first BNPL), SmartCOOP (core banking for co-operative banks), Simplebooks (company registration and bookkeeping), MedEasy (online pharmacy and telehealth, Bangladesh), Hishabee (retail and finance for small shops, Bangladesh), Shopbook (MSME ledger app), Dossiers (AML and compliance toolkit) and HybridAI (AI and IT workload cost management, Singapore).
Team
- Chalinda Abeykoon, Managing Partner: 16+ years building startup ecosystems across Asia; works at the operating level on go-to-market, pricing and cross-border expansion.
- Imal Kalutotage, Founding Partner: founder and chairman of NCINGA and IFINITY; Cisco, IBM and HPE background.
- Kumar Buvanendaran, General Partner: grew a $2M architecture firm to $75M and exited; board director across 12+ companies.
- Ashok Verma, Founding Partner: co-founded nCinga (acquired by Zilingo, 2019); 25+ years in enterprise tech sales across APAC.
- Sanjaya Mohottala, General Partner: BCG Managing Director and Partner for 15+ years; former Chairman of Sri Lanka's Board of Investment.
- Martin Strommer, Founding Partner: 30 years in tech and startups; leads deep tech evaluation, Industry 4.0 and IoT.
- Esna Ong, Venture Partner: built Google for Startups Cloud Program in Pakistan; led Startup SG Founder Program.
- Sahanmi Kalutotage, Investment Analyst, and Uvin Wijesinghe, Investment Associate (diligence, IC reporting, valuations).
Decision Process
Partnership-based, with an investment committee referenced in team roles (IC reporting). Exact timeline is not published. Founders apply through an online form.
Founder Preferences
Founders from underestimated markets who think globally from day one, with high integrity, urgency, accountability and endurance. Founders who are radically transparent and own outcomes. The firm rejects prestige over substance and growth at the expense of integrity.
Geographic Focus
South Asia (notably Sri Lanka, India, Bangladesh) and Southeast Asia, ideally with globally scalable architectures. The firm is based in Singapore and describes itself as Sri Lanka's first MAS-licensed foreign venture capital fund. It is a member of the SVCA.
Sector Focus
Fund I: B2B fintech, regtech, wealthtech, plus selected edtech, healthtech, Web3 and deep tech. Fund II: enterprise tech and B2B software, enterprise AI, with fintech and regtech adjacencies.