Venture Capital · Profile from Venture Capital Research Companion
East Ventures
The Indonesia-focused seed investor, started in 2009 with ~$2.2m of mostly Japanese money by an Indonesian engineer and the co-founder of Japan's mixi, which wrote early checks into Tokopedia, Traveloka and Mercari, and then grew into Southeast Asia's best-known multi-stage "ecosystem" VC, with a growth arm co-owned with corporate partners.
At a glance
- Founded
- 2009 (first investments 2009–2010); offices in Singapore, Jakarta and Tokyo
- Founders
- Willson Cuaca, Batara Eto (co-founder of mixi, Japan), Taiga Matsuyama
- Headquarters
- Singapore (legal and fund domicile) and Jakarta (largest investment team); Tokyo presence for the Japan seed programme
- Ownership / structure
- Private, partner-owned management company; separate numbered early-stage funds plus the EV Growth platform, launched in 2018 with Sinar Mas Digital Ventures (SMDV) and YJ Capital (Yahoo Japan, later Z Venture Capital) as co-sponsors
- Leadership (2026)
- Willson Cuaca (co-founder and managing partner); Roderick Purwana (managing partner, EV Growth); Melisa Irene (partner); Batara Eto (co-founder, Japan/early stage) (verify current titles)
- AUM / capital raised
- Firm said ">$1bn AUM" at its October 2021 close; third-party databases cite ~$1.5bn (verify). Started with ~$2.2m (2009)
- Stage focus
- Seed and Series A in Indonesia and wider Southeast Asia (historically also Japan); growth-stage through EV Growth
- Signature investments
- Tokopedia (2010 seed), Traveloka (2012 seed), Mercari (2013, Japan), Ruangguru, Kudo (sold to Grab), Loket (sold to Gojek), Disdus (sold to Groupon), Sociolla, Fore Coffee (IDX IPO 2025); instructive outcomes: Warung Pintar (folded into SIRCLO), Fabelio (collapsed 2022; EV investment not confirmed, verify), heavy post-IPO declines at GoTo
9 deals and moves analysed
Each one gets a full strategy file in the companion: context, the decision, the financing, what happened, and the lesson.
2010
Tokopedia
Seed
2012
Traveloka
Seed
2013
Mercari
Seed
2014
Kudo
Seed
2014
Ruangguru
Seed
2015
Loket
Seed
2015
Sociolla
Seed
2017
Warung Pintar
Incubation and Seed
2018
Fore Coffee
Incubation and Seed