In April, Taiwania Capital stated that their fund -- The Taiwania Capital Buffalo V, with the scale of 1.5 billion NTD will close fundraising this June. Taiwania Capital will target startups that are at the Pre-A and seed round of investment in Taiwan.
The CEO of Taiwania Capital David Weng says that their first fund, the IoT fund, of Taiwania Capital, which raised 4.65 billion NTD in 2017, has closed their investment distribution within three years. During these three years, Taiwania Capital found out about the notches of Pre-A funding in the early stage of startups and decided to raise the fifth fund.
Following the first funds, Taiwania launched second and third fund to target biotechonology as well as medical devices, and get a huge success.
Fill in the gap for the Pre-A run funding in Taiwan
The Buffalo V fund will later play the role like the National Development Fund, the Executive Yuan's Angel Investing Program, continuing to keep the investment running.
However, between Angel and A Round -- the so-called Pre-A Round, is where it gets risky, thereby lowering the chance of startups receiving investment. David Weng claims that the investors of the Buffalo V fund come from different technology companies national-wise, and will stimulate the cooperation between startups and technology companies in the future.
The Venture Capital suggested by The Buffalo V means that investment is no longer the only target, but more like co-entrepreneurship.
Cheng Wu, the general partner of Taiwania Capital, states that the venture capital is acknowledging the technical notches in the future market and finds startups to fill up the investment. Nonetheless, sometimes there is no enterprise willing to invest in when the market is short in need.
In order to make sure the notches can be mended and the techniques can be used in Taiwan, Taiwania Capital starts the journey at invest in talents, integrate technical teams fostered by corporations with international industrial experiences, such as Industrial Technology Research Institute(ITRI) and Institute for Information Industry(III), and focusing on important industries like 5G and Cyber Security to create a new team by the software-hardware and the systematic integration.
Upgrading Taiwanese Talents to International Stage
Taiwania Capital was jointly funded by the National Development Council, ITRI Innovative Industrial Technology Transfer Company and the Bank of Taiwan in 2017. The first IoT fund closed its fund-raising in December, 2017, and went on investing in their first company, Ambiq Micro, an integrated supplier of low-power system chips.
By the end of May 2021, the IoT fund has closed its investment distribution in ten American companies and ten Taiwanese companies in total after more than three years; fields covered the main five applications: 5G, Advanced Manufacturing, Enterprise Software, Automation, and Smart Healthcare.
Taiwania has recruited MediaTek to jointly invest in the development and application of high-end embedded digital audio, DSP Concepts, who has come to Taiwan to set up an office and recruit talents.
David Weng indicates that fastening American advanced companies to cooperate with Taiwanese ones through streaming and leading outstanding Taiwanese startups to the world has always been the main goal. For instance, the already invested Ambiq Micro and the audio processing software company DSP Concepts have both already set up their offices and recruited their teams in Taiwan.
As for the aspect of leading Taiwanese startups to the international stage, MedicusTek Inc., the Sensible®Care Pad Taiwania Capital invested in, has hired an internationally professional manager, who leads the company to the western medical system.
The next fund which is estimated to raise 6 billion is going to close fund-raising in 2021 Q3.