AsiaTech, IT Giants Reveal $48 Million Asia Java Fund

AsiaTech Ventures and several
global tech giants yesterday launched the $48 million Asia Java
Fund, the first venture capital fund dedicated to supporting Internet
entrepreneurs using Java in Asia.

Backed by some of the world’s leading technology corporations including
Sun Microsystems, Japan’s Fujitsu, NTT DoCoMo, Hong Kong’s Pacific
Century Cyberworks and Cable & Wireless HKT, the new fund aims to
accelerate the use of Java, a key programming environment for the Web.

“The fund is unique not only because it brings
together such a diverse range of investors but because for many of them,
it is the first time they have participated in a third party fund outside of
their own private investments,” said James Yao, co-founder and executive director of AsiaTech Ventures in USA.

Other key investors in the Asia Java Fund include Mitsui & Co,
Nomura/Jafco, Sun Hung Kai Properties, Singapore Telecom, the
National Computer Board of Singapore and the Technopreneurship
Investment Fund of Singapore.

“Java will be the technology underpinning a new economic revolution in
Asia as companies develop and utilise local developer talent to bring in
new methods of working,” said Hanson Cheah, co-founder and
executive director of AsiaTech Ventures Asia.

According to Cheah there are currently over one million Java
programmers worldwide, a figure expected to triple by 2002. “In China
alone there are more than 100,000 Java users with every major
University using the language to train its computing students,” he said.

Among the first companies to receive funding from the Asia Java Fund
will be BizTone, a Malaysian firm specialising in providing Internet-based
Applications Services targeting the SME market.

Hong Kong based QuotePower, a leading provider of technology for
online trading and financial information solutions will also be a recipient of
funding.