Daily Briefing: ARA Asset Management delays closing of second value-add fund; Grab Ventures Velocity programme selects five startups

And agritech accelerator Grow launches Food Bowl programme.

From Deal Street Asia:

ARA Asset Management has delayed the final close of its second value-add fund ARA Real Estate Partners Asia II (Fund II) until October 2020, according to a report.

The fund, launched in 2018, had targeted to make the final close in the first half of 2020 with a corpus of (US$750m).

ARA’s Fund II is understood to have raised half of its total corpus. Meanwhile, the first close was done in October 2018 with a (US$225m) commitment from the New York State Common Retirement Fund (NYSCRF).

The value-add fund will invest in office buildings, logistics and industrial assets, as well as retail properties across the region, and is targeting a 12% net IRR and a loan-to-value ratio of 55%

Read more here. 

From Deal Street Asia:

Grab has shortlisted five startups—including four from Jakarta and one from Singapore—as part of the third batch of the Grab Ventures Velocity (GVV) programme, according to an announcement.

The five startups include Luna POS, KliknClean, Printerous, GetCraft, and Workmate.

GVV Batch 3 aims to focus on startups that provide value-added services for restaurants and the B2B logistics space, especially amidst the pandemic.

The programme will run for 16 weeks, after which the five startups will pitch their businesses to Grab. Successful startups will get the opportunity to collaborate with Grab through a commercial partnership.

Read more here. 

From e27:

Agritech accelerator Grow has launched a new 12-week startup programme, according to an announcement.

Called Singapore Food Bowl, the programme aims to build innovative solutions for challenges, such as yield predictions, food waste reduction and packaging alternatives. Interested startups may apply until 7 June.

Only applicants from the Asia Pacific with a minimum viable product can enter the programme.

Read more here.