Nexea Angels focus on value building through mentors who have contributed immense amounts of knowledge, experience and networking opportunities to Startups. We handpick our mentors/investors so only the proven business owners are allowed to guide our Startups.
Ben Lim
Name of Angel Group / VC Fund: Nexea Angels
Location: Malaysia / Southeast Asia
Website: www.nexeangels.com
Venture Partner: Ben Lim
This article is part of our Investor Spotlight Series featuring Angel Networks / Funds and VC Funds. We hope these spotlights will inform and inspire the entrepreneur concerning funding options and opportunities.
There are numerous operating models being pursued by angel networks / funds and VC funds. How does yours work? How does it differentiate you?
At Nexea, we operate fully on a profit sharing model. We only make money when our investors make their money first. In other words, our revenues come in when our investors make a profit on their startup exits. The reason behind this is so that we are fully aligned with the investors’ interests. This not only gives us the push to work harder, but also to stay true to pursuing only the best deals.
We focus on value building – this is through our mentors who have contributed immense amounts of knowledge, experience and networking opportunities to Startups. By handpicking our mentors/investors, only the proven business owners are allowed to guide our Startups.
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In what industries and sectors do you invest? Are their specific industries, sectors or types of opportunities in which you don’t invest?
We invest in almost every startup that has great growth potential of at least 30X to justify the risks of angel investment. However, we do have to admit that we do have favorite types of Startups – Startups with SaaS (subscription) business models or Startups that really disrupt a traditional business model.
Does your organization have any geographic preferences upon which you build your portfolio?
We only invest into Startups that are based in Southeast Asia. That said, we tend to have more mentors in Malaysia that can help guide Startups to their full potential.
What key attributes do you look for when selecting companies for investment?
We tend to look at the timing of their industry sector or market forces, as well as the team capability of the Startup the most. We believe that the rest, like product, traction, etc can be worked on. It is based on the fact that it is really hard to influence the market, and it is even harder to fix the team.
At what stage(s) of the startups’ development do you prefer to invest?
We prefer both idea stage as well as early stage Startups, where some revenues have come in. For early stage Startups, we require that Startups know their targeted/addressable market size, that customers love the product, and that customers are paying for the product.
Tell us more about your team. Do you work with companies beyond the provision of funding? If so, how do you support them?
Nexea Angels is a team that supports both Startups, Software Developers, and Investors. We focus heavily on supporting Startups to realize their exits on a very high level. We only guide and do not get involved with the operations of Startups.
Are there key startups which serve as examples of the types of investments you like to pursue? What specifically differentiates them?
Airbnb would be a great example of a Startup that is both sustainable and fits the market very well. They are able to have very healthy margins in between the home owners and travelers. They also fit the market very well in the sense that their pricing is lower than hotels while at the same time higher than the usual monthly rental. This means that both the home owners and travelers benefit, and where the hotel industry loses out a little. It is the right kind of scalable disruption in the hotel industry.
Familiar with other angel groups / funds or VC funds that you believe should be spotlighted? If so, we would like to hear from you. Tell us about them in the comments below!
Pam Goforth
Pam Goforth is Research Manager for FundingSage, which provides valuable information, tools and resources to entrepreneurs seeking to start, grow and fund a business.
