SparkLabs Global Ventures is launching a new $30 million seed-stage fund that will invest in early-stage companies looking to rapidly scale their innovations. The founding partners are Bernard Moon, Net Jacobsson, Frank Meehan, Jimmy Kim, John Lee, and Jay McCarthy. Bernard, Net and Frank will be the primary operating partners.
“SparkLabs Global Ventures was founded on our strong momentum from our SparkLabs accelerator in South Korea, where we have already invested in 16 fantastic startups. Jimmy Kim, John Lee, Jay McCarthy and I were planning to launch an angel fund covering Asia and the U.S. When the opportunity came to partner with Frank and Net on an angel fund, it was a no-brainer. We immediately found our combined network and entrepreneurial experiences for many entrepreneurs an exciting value proposition,” said Bernard Moon.
Net Jacobsson was Facebook’s first international executive and led their initial mobile business development efforts. He has been a highly successful active angel investor and advisor to companies such as Openfeint, Crowdstar, and King.com.
“Through my entire career, I’ve always been Mr. International, helping companies entering new markets or taking them global. Now, I finally have an opportunity to really be able to assist entrepreneurs in a more meaningful way both as an investor as well as an operator (or fellow entrepreneur) together with my talented partners,” said Net Jacobsson.
Frank Meehan was part of Li Ka-Shing’s Horizons Ventures team, representing Horizons on the boards of Spotify, Siri, Summly, Affectiva, Bitcasa, DoubleTwist, Fixmo, TOM.com, and others. Prior to that he was the global director for the mobile operator Three’s handset business, and pioneered early mobile and internet communications integration with the Mobile World Congress award winning devices, INQ1 and 3 Skypephone.
“Entrepreneurs are no longer satisfied with just being a hit in their home market. They are hungry to bring their amazing products to the world, and are looking for experienced seed investors that can actively support them. For example Asia-based startups now have the management teams that can globalize, and they are poised for explosive growth. The investors in SparkLabs Global Ventures are very excited about being able to support our entrepreneurs’ expansion plans more effectively than other funds,” explained Frank Meehan, who was named to Wired UK’s Top 100 (2012) and selected in Vanity Fair’s “The Next Establishment” list (2010).
Jimmy Kim is Co-founder and President of N3N, a provider of next generation control room solutions for Fortune 500 companies and governments. He was previously CEO of Nexonova and EVP of Nexon Corp, which services over 20 games across 60 countries to an audience of 300 million.
John Lee is Co-founder & EVP of Corporate Development and Strategy of Hostway. He serves additional responsibilities as CEO of Hostway India. John and his fellow co-founders bootstrapped Hostway into a top 5 web hosting company in the world with over 700 employees.
Jay McCarthy is Founder and Managing Partner of Pacific Advisers, which advised, financed and invested in a range of deals in Asia across industries, principally mining & energy, technology, luxury consumer and property.
“We are excited about this new fund since all of us enjoy helping other entrepreneurs and we know there are great entrepreneurs not only in Silicon Valley but throughout the world,” said Net Jacobsson.
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