Valverde Investment Partners

John Foo, the firm's Founder and CEO, holds final authority over all investment committee decisions. Foo spent more than fifteen years at Vertex Venture Holdings, Temasek's venture capital arm, where he led growth-stage investments across Southeast Asia. Co-Founder Susan Soh shares deal-sourcing and portfolio-management responsibilities, but the governance structure concentrates ultimate decision-making with Foo — a design intended to maintain speed in a region where drawn-out committee processes can cost allocation opportunities (per the firm's official communications).

Valverde's sourcing model relies on the founders' relationships cultivated over two decades within the Temasek network and the broader Southeast Asian venture ecosystem. The firm accesses late-stage rounds through direct company relationships, introductions from earlier-stage venture backers whose positions cap out below Valverde's check size, and co-investment invitations from global growth managers active in the region. This relationship-driven funnel is well-suited to a market where proprietary access still outweighs auction-led processes in the growth-stage segment.

No. Valverde has maintained a deliberate single-region mandate since its 2018 founding, covering Indonesia, Vietnam, and Singapore. The firm has not expanded into China, India, or developed markets, and does not intend to. This geographic concentration is core to the firm's pitch to institutional LPs: it offers pure-play Southeast Asian growth exposure without the dilution that comes from a pan-Asian or global mandate.

Valverde writes $10 million to $30 million checks into growth-stage companies, typically those raising late Series C through pre-IPO rounds. The firm targets businesses with established unit economics that need institutional capital to scale regionally or bridge to a public listing. It does not participate in seed or early Series A deals, and it currently does not offer a crossover vehicle for public-market positions — the mandate remains firmly in late-stage private growth.

Valverde operates as a traditional institutional fund manager raising committed capital from external limited partners, not as a single-family office. Despite its boutique size, the firm runs a closed-end private equity fund structure with institutional reporting and governance standards. This distinguishes it from some Temasek-alumni peers who manage predominantly proprietary or single-family capital pools.

Valverde does not invest in natural resources, commodities, real estate development, or infrastructure projects. Within technology, the firm has not historically participated in hardware, semiconductor, or deep-tech hardware rounds, keeping its portfolio concentrated in enterprise software, fintech infrastructure, digital health, and consumer technology platforms where its principals have operational and investment experience dating back to their Vertex years.

Valverde co-invests selectively alongside global growth managers including General Atlantic and Warburg Pincus in Southeast Asian rounds that exceed the firm's standalone capacity. It does not operate a fund-of-funds program, nor does it serve as a passive LP in other managers' vehicles. Co-investment participation is opportunistic, typically arising when syndicate dynamics in late-stage rounds create allocation openings for a regional specialist with deep local underwriting capability.