Fund 2 is in final close.

Written By Sherwin Sinio

Last year we wrote our 100th cheque. That milestone took eight years, two funds, 13 cohorts, and 16 markets to reach.

A year on, here's where we've landed.

Both Fund 1 and Fund 2 are apparently performing in the top 5% of VC funds globally against the most recent Carta benchmarks*. 

What the hell? How did this happen?

Literally eight years ago we were sitting in a meeting room at 80RR in Singapore figuring out what Accelerating Asia could become. We had a thesis, a small team, and a lot of conviction that emerging Asia was structurally underserved at seed. The plan was to back operator-founders early, build a portfolio big enough for the power law to actually show up, and stay close enough to our companies to actually help. That was it.

Today: more than 100 companies. 13 cohorts. 16 markets. The model is working.

Over the next 18 months, we expect at least 10 portfolio companies to reach return-events for AAV's position. Some will return more than 10x. A handful will clear 20x. One to three will clear 30x. Not theoretical. Not aspirational. The math from Craig's piece is landing in real rounds with real institutional co-investors closing alongside us right now.

So with all that, we are pleased to announce that Fund 2 is in final close.

So why now

Honestly? It's time.

After you invest, you harvest. Every fund eventually gets to the moment where the portfolio is built, the pipeline is filling, and the work shifts from sourcing new investments to making sure the existing ones land. We are at that moment.


You also can't really do both at once. You can't keep raising new capital while you are starting to return capital from your portfolio. The two operations pull in different directions. So we are officially closing the door on Fund 2.

Cohort 13 just kicked off. Cohort 14, opening for applications shortly, will be Fund 2's last. Unless by some crazy magic we end up closing oversubscribed. Anything is possible. But what is for real is that anything beyond this close becomes Fund 3 territory.


There is one more piece to "why now". Two weeks ago we launched the new LP Experience platform: a real-time investor dashboard, a fully interactive portfolio page, and a live fund deck. The consistent feedback from investors we've spoken to over the last year is that they don't see this level of transparency from funds at our stage or size. We agree. A fund at our stage should be more transparent than the bigger players, not less. We built it that way deliberately. Anyone who joins the fund right now does so with visibility that wasn't possible 12 months ago.

What we back

Two things, consistently across 13 cohorts.

Operator-founders. We back people who have built things before, whether companies, products, or teams, and who are now building in a market they understand operationally. Not theoretical founders. Not people who have spotted a trend. Operators who have lived inside the problem and are now solving it as a business.


Regional specificity. We do not invest in "Southeast Asia" or "South Asia" as a generic thesis. We invest in specific country-and-sector intersections where the market is structurally underserved. Indonesia logistics. Bangladesh agritech and healthtech. Singapore mobility infrastructure. Philippine small-business credit. These are not fashionable categories. They are categories where a first institutional cheque from us, paired with operator support, produces outsized outcomes.

When we get this combination right, the math just lands.


And the model has one structural advantage that compounds quietly: our accelerator buys an additional 1% equity in each company at no extra cash cost, via the program fee. Compounded across a hundred companies, that 1% materially lifts MOIC for our LPs versus a generalist seed fund backing the same picks. This is what existing LPs are really buying when they come into an AAV fund.

What closing means

We stop accepting new LP commitments. After close:

  • Portfolio support and exit work continue for the next 4 to 6 years across the 100-company portfolio

  • LP communications continue: real-time dashboard, quarterly reporting, annual meetings

  • Cohort 14, opening for applications shortly, is (potentially) Fund 2's last cohort

  • New LP commitments shift to Fund 3 over time. We are not actively raising Fund 3 yet (so... get in while it's hot)

If you've been considering Fund 2, the window is now open and time-bounded. If you're a tech operator, an angel investor, or a family office that hasn't traditionally backed a fund, the model probably fits better than you think (more on that below). After close, the next opportunity to back AAV directly is Fund 3.

Who actually invests in AAV

A lot of people who would be a great fit for AAV assume they aren't.

They've never invested in a fund before. They run their own businesses. They've done a few angel cheques here and there but a fund feels like a different animal. They don't have a family office, they don't run a fund-of-funds team, they don't think of themselves as institutional.

Most of our LPs are exactly those people.

Tech operators who have built and exited their own companies and want emerging Asia exposure without doing 30 deals a year themselves. Angel investors who want a portfolio cheque alongside their direct ones. Family offices that want diversified emerging-market exposure but haven't found a fund they trust at this stage. A handful of founders we have backed who are now writing cheques back into AAV.

The single most common thing we hear from prospective LPs is some version of: "I'm not really a fund investor."

You don't need to be. Most of our LPs aren't institutional capital allocators. They're operators. They want regional exposure at seed. They want to be in the loop on the portfolio (which is what the LP Dashboard now actually delivers). They don't want to spend their weekends doing diligence on 50 companies a year. We do that and they get the upside.

Most of our existing LPs are now on their second or third re-up across Fund 1 and Fund 2. They keep coming back because the model works for them.

If that sounds like you, you're who we built Fund 2 for.

Fund 2 is in final close.


Start with the fund deck. Choose your path at acceleratingasia.com/investors and we'll send access.

- Craig & Amra General Partners | Accelerating Asia Ventures

See the portfolio. Check out acceleratingasia.com/portfolio. Filter by country, sector, or fundraising status. Request an introduction directly to any CEO.

For investors and partners. Choose your path at acceleratingasia.com/investors. Whether you're looking to co-invest in individual startups or invest in the fund, the next step is there.


* Carta Q4 2025 VC Fund Performance. US benchmarks used as Asian fund comparables remain limited.

About Accelerating Asia Ventures

Accelerating Asia Ventures is an independent accelerator and venture capital fund investing in early-stage startups across Southeast and South Asia. Founded by operators, the organisation is committed to supporting founders with capital, credibility, and a long-term community.

For interviews, data requests, or portfolio introductions, contact: team@acceleratingasia.com


Sherwin Sinio
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