Kickstart Ventures is a venture capital company located in Makati, Manila, Philippines. The company is focused on corporate venture capital across all funding stages including, seed, early-stage venture and late-stage venture. Kickstart Ventures makes use of progressive business strategies to back Philippine-based startups. Assistance is given through financial backing, making facilities available for use, and through providing invaluable industry expertise. Kickstart Ventures also matches and sets up business connections. 

Brief History

Founded in March 2012, Kickstart Ventures had the goal of breaking through the standard protocol to accelerate collaboration between startups and enterprise companies. The idea was to combine corporates and startups instead of choosing between the two. In October 2011, Kickstart Ventures launched in the first ever Startup Weekend in the Philippines and got as much as 300 signups. This was achieved through both community and corporate support. In January 2012 the team made an honest and ambitious pitch based on facts and got modest funding as well as a modest team approved. By December 2012 Kickstart Ventures had ten startups in their portfolio: AVA, Bagosphere, WorkINspire, Kalibrr, LaunchGarage, Lifebit, Mission 1: Apptivate, Tripsiders, Tripid, and ZAP. Many more startups followed in the coming years. 

Geographically

Kickstart Ventures was launched with the aim of catering to the Asia Pacific and Southeast Asia regions. The company has two operational bases, both in Makati City Metro Manila, Philippines. Kickstart@Paseo is the investment space, and Kickstart@Pioneer is the company’s head office. 

Significant Investments 

With a focus on FinTech, HealthTech, Enterprise Solutions & SaaS, EduTech, eCommerce & Marketplace and Digital Lifestyle investments, Kickstart Ventures has developed a substantial portfolio since its launch. In April 2018 it was announced that Kickstart Ventures would lead the US$1.6 million seed funding round of Sprout Solutions, an HR technology startup. Other investors in Sprout Solutions include Wavemaker Partners a private investor, and Beenext.
Additional major investments made by Kickstart Ventures are:

• FinTech – C88, coins.ph, and Lenddo
• HealthTech – Lifetrack Medical Systems, Medix, and Clinica
• Enterprise Solutions & SaaS – Kalibrr, MyLegalWhiz, InnoVantage, Dialpad, Squadzip, Teridion, Engage SPARK, Lotus Flare, Spiralytics Performace Marketing, Spancart and Sprout Solutions
• EduTech – BagoSphere
• eCommerce & Marketplace – AVA, ZipMatch, and Zalora
• Digital Lifestyle – Zap and Wattpad

Kickstart Ventures in the News

As reported by Philstar Global in July 2018, Minette Navarrete of Kickstart Ventures spoke at the Techtonic Summit 2018 where the progress of Philippine startups was discussed. Manila Bulletin announced in January 2018 that Snapcart joined the Kickstart Ventures investment portfolio. The real-time offline shopping and consumer analytical company closed on US$10 million in Series A funding from companies like Kickstart Ventures. In July 2018 Inquirer.net published an article about the startups and venture capital investors who were planning to collaborate in Ignite 2018, due to take place that month. Collaborators included Kickstart Ventures, who headed a panel discussion along with Monk’s Hill Ventures, Quest Ventures, and Gree Ventures.