This week we are up for a treat as we take a turn to Southeast Asia—we bust some myths about Southeast Asia’s VC activity and the narratives driving the expansion seen in the region. The key question: will the momentum survive this downcycle?
You’re tuning into a two-part episode with venture capitalist Dmitry Levit, Russian-born Israeli citizen who is now deemed an expert of investing in SEA having spent more than a decade building his firm Cento Ventures. They typically invest in Series A and lead the round. Notable investments include 2C2P, Pomelo, iPrice and Kaidee, formerly led by Tiwa York who we also had on the show.
(Checkout our episode in Nov 2022 “Building Through Startup Chaos”).
ABOUT DMITRY LEVIT:
Dmitry is the Founder of Cento Ventures. He is responsible for overseeing all investment and fund activities in Southeast Asia.Dmitry formerly served as an advisor to several investment groups and corporations pursuing technology and media opportunities across developing Asia, with Media Development Authority of Singapore, Singtel, ru-Net, IDG Ventures Vietnam, SUP Media, Livejournal.com, Chinese Founders Fund, VIVA Media and Nusantara Ventures among his clients.In 2008-2009, Dmitry was part of the investment team at IDG Ventures, where he provided extensive operational support to portfolio companies in Vietnam and was in charge of sourcing and assessment of investment opportunities in Indonesia and Singapore. Prior to that, Dmitry spent several years in business development roles with Yahoo! Southeast Asia, negotiating a series of content, distribution, monetization and technology deals for Yahoo! in Singapore, Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines. Dmitry also acted as a business strategist for the regional Managing Director, working on vertical strategies for e-commerce, gaming, travel, finance, telecom and other sectors.
