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Asia is one of the most important startup and technology markets in the world.

The leader in the region is China with its ruthlessly competitive ride-sharing market, a surging venture investment ecosystem shaped by corporate giants and the government alike, and a surprisingly large crop of still-private companies valued at billions of dollars.

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But pay no short shrift to Southeast Asia. Startup investors certainly aren鈥檛 ignoring startups in the region. But what about the investors who back those venture capitalists?

That鈥檚 a bet 500 TukTuks, the Thailand-based outpost of , is apparently willing to take.

500 TukTuk鈥檚 Second Fund

The micro VC firm with the SEC earlier today for its second flagship fund. According to the filing, 500 TukTuks II, L.P. is targeting $20 million in its capital raise. This is a bump up from , which was announced in July 2016 and topped out at about $15.4 million.

The following folks are listed on the filing for Fund II:

• , the managing director of 500 Startups.
• , a telecoms executive turned startup educator, who currently serves as 500 TukTuks鈥檚 managing director.
• , founding CEO of and a venture partner with 500 TukTuks since its first fund.

At the time of filing, no LP capital has been closed for the second fund.

500 TukTuks and 500 Startups have made a number of investments in Thailand-based companies, including payments gateway , car insurance claim management platform , and fashion ecommerce site , among .

The Rise Of Thai Startups

This second fund could be advantageously timed, considering that Thailand鈥檚 startup scene has really ballooned in just the past few years. The chart below displays the count of reported between 2012 and the end of 2017.

2017 was a pivotal year for Thailand鈥檚 startup ecosystem. An compiled by Vitavin Itti, a Southeast Asia-focused startup investor, uncovered some important events from the year:

• Thai corporations began spinning up their own corporate startup investment funds.
• The country鈥檚 government to the Civil and Commercial Code of Thailand, which would implement a legal framework for preferred shares, employee stock options plans, and convertible debt instruments.
• Chinese companies like JD.com, Tencent, and Alibaba are forming joint ventures with local Thai upstarts.

, this time compiled by TechSauce, a Thailand tech publication, found that fifteen new venture funds formed in Thailand raised at least $305.78 million between 2016 and 2017,

500 Startups鈥檚 Asian Portfolio Strategy

500 TukTuks is just one of many hyper-regional Asian investment funds affiliated with 500 Startups. Here鈥檚 a selection:

• Korea-focused 500 Kimchi announced back in 2015.
• launched and accelerator program called 500 Kobe
• 500 Kulfi is to invest in Indian startups. It was announced back in 2016.

Crunchbase News has also covered various goings-on at 500 Durians, a Singapore-based fund which invests broadly across Southeast Asia. According to the firm鈥檚 , it has portfolio companies distributed across six countries. 500 Durians raised and .

Back in April, Crunchbase News covered a filing for what turned out to be a $21.18 million special purpose vehicle (SPV) raised by 500 Durians to invest in the $85 million Series C round raised by , an extant portfolio company.

500 Startups did not respond to requests for comment prior to initial publication.

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