Global VC firm Cherubic closes Fund V at $110m to invest in the US & Asia

Cherubic Ventures, a venture capital (VC) firm with operations in Silicon Valley and Greater China, has held the final closing of its fifth fund at $110 million to bring the firm’s total committed capital under management to over $400 million.

Fund V will continue Cherubic’s investment approach of looking to become the first investor behind up-and-coming startups across the US and Asian markets, said the firm in a statement on Friday. In addition to its “first-cheque” strategy, Cherubic actively sources deals from angel to pre-IPO funding stages with professionals stationed in San Francisco, Taipei, and Shanghai.

The firm plans to reserve over 50% of Fund V to support its portfolio companies in their late-stage to pre-IPO fundraising efforts. It manages capital under a “sector-agnostic” strategy, with previous investments made in industries from consumer to enterprise solutions to blockchain technology, among others.

To date, Cherubic has a global network of over 150 portfolio companies, as well as more than 500 founders, advisors, and institutional investors. Some of its well-known investee companies include US telehealth platform Hims & Hers, sleep meditation app Calm, US logistics technology startup Flexport, e-commerce company 91APP, Japanese buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) platform Paidy, and Chinese design software provider Tezign.

Its fundraising development followed a fruitful 2021 for Cherubic. San Francisco, California-based Hims & Hers went public on the New York stock exchange in January 2021 through a merger with special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Oaktree Acquisition Corp in a deal that valued the company at $1.6 billion.

Four months later, 91APP hit a market cap of $726 million in its listing debut on the Taiwan stock exchange. In September last year, US fintech giant PayPal Holdings announced a planned acquisition of Cherubic-backed Paidy for about $2.7 billion, mostly in cash, to enhance its business in Japan.

The $110-million Fund V represents Cherubic’s “first fund to cross the $100-million mark,” founding and managing partner Matt Cheng wrote in a blog. “Our efforts and achievements over the past eight years have served to win us the validation and investment of world-class institutional investors along with family offices.”

Out of the firm’s 150-plus portfolio companies, 10 have achieved the unicorn valuation of over $1 billion and more than 27 have created exits for their investors, Cheung wrote.

Taiwanese venture investor and serial entrepreneur Cheng created Cherubic in 2014 after his tenures as a co-founder of Tian Ge Interactive in mainland China and 91APP in Taiwan. Hangzhou-based live social video platform Tian Ge Interactive went public in Hong Kong in July 2014, raising HK$1.6 billion ($204 million).