Singapore’s January Capital announced the final close of its debut private credit fund, Growth Credit Fund, with capital commitments totalling more than $130 million.
The multi-strategy investment firm said the fund was oversubscribed and drew commitments from institutional investors, including Japan’s SBI Holdings and GMO Payment Gateway, as well as fund-of-funds platform Orient Growth Ventures and Australia’s Australian Philanthropic Services Foundation.
January Capital said the fund will provide senior secured loans, typically in the range of $10-20 million, to growth-stage technology companies backed by financial sponsors.
Growth credit is a common part of the financing mix for later-stage technology firms in the US, but remains limited in the Asia Pacific, January Capital said, estimating that such debt represents less than 2% of available funding for tech-enabled growth companies in the region.
“Growth credit has been a natural extension for us, given we have seen first-hand how few non-dilutive options are available for such firms in our region,” said January Capital founding partner Benjamin Dunphy.
The final close follows an initial close announced in December 2024, when January Capital said it had raised more than $85 million in committed capital for the strategy.
The first close of the Growth Credit Fund received capital commitments of $20 million each from the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) and an unnamed European development financial institution.
Jason Edwards, founding partner of January Capital and co-head of Credit, said the strong interest from global institutions is a “clear signal that investors want disciplined exposure to high-quality, high-growth businesses in our core markets”.
In October this year, DEG, the investment arm of German state-owned development bank KfW, disclosed plans to provide a senior long-term loan of up to €20 million (about $23 million) to the fund.
Venture debt remains a relatively new financing option in Southeast Asia, and liquidity for later-stage companies is perceived as scarce, DEG stressed.
“There are only very few venture debt funds active in Southeast Asia today, and none is active in the segment that the fund is targeting,” DEG said in its investment disclosure.
January Capital, known for its equity investments, claimed to have completed several single-asset credit transactions underwritten by its existing limited partner (LP) base, including loans for a Southeast Asian e-commerce enablement firm and an Australian software company.
The firm recently backed the $20 million funding round of Singapore-based deeptech startup SynaXG.
