Singapore-based independent asset manager Lighthouse Canton has partnered with a digital marketplace for alternatives in Southeast Asia.
Lighthouse Capital has partnered with Alta for a new venture debt strategy, according to a statement. Through the partnership, Alta’s investors will gain access to the investment strategy through Alta’s platform.
The strategy provides debt capital to tech startups across Southeast Asia and India through a Variable Capital Company (VCC) for the former market and a Category II Alternative Investment Fund (AIF) for the latter market.
Headquartered in Singapore, Alta is a Southeast Asia digital marketplace for alternative investments. Since 2016, it has completed over 1,000 transactions valued in excess of $600 million and created access to more than $22 billion of mandated opportunities. In addition to Singapore, it also operates several offices across Southeast Asia.
Venture Debt Outlook
According to Lighthouse Canton's global head of asset management Sanket Sinha, venture debt makes up a limited amount of overall venture capital (VC) funding in the region compared to developed markets, allowing for more upside.
«In more mature venture ecosystems such as the US and Europe, venture debt has risen to 15-20 percent of the total VC funding, whereas this proportion is less than 2 percent in India and Southeast Asia,» said Sinha.
«We see tremendous opportunity for venture debt and expect the size of this market to grow 3-4 times in the next five years.»
First Close
Lighthouse Canton’s venture debt fund reached its first close in January with participation from global institutions and family offices. Thereafter, it has started deploying capital across five companies from the fintech, health tech, property tech and consumer tech sectors.
Lighthouse Canton is an independent asset manager with over 100 professionals across offices in Singapore, Dubai and India servicing accredited private clients, institutional investors and an ecosystem of founders and entrepreneurs globally. As of 30 September 2022, it oversaw $3 billion in assets under management and advisory.
