SINGAPORE (May 20): B Capital Group, a venture-capital firm founded last year by Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin and industry veteran Raj Ganguly, has raised over US143.6 million (S$198.3 million) for its first venture fund.

This is according to a filing made by B Capital to the US Securities and Exchange Commission on May 19.

In a separate note posted by Ganguly on social networking platform LinkedIn on Thursday, the two founders were bullish about the potential for venture investments in Asia.

“When comparing against the US and even India, Southeast Asia as an ecosystem is very early in its level of funding development,” they said. “Roughly speaking, while China has been rapidly catching up with the US, India is still half a generation behind the US, and Southeast Asia is trailing behind by at least one generation.”

B Capital were among investors including Abraaj Group, Monk’s Hill Ventures, and YJ Capital, who in April invested a total of US$30 million in series B funding for tech-enabled last-mile logistics startup Ninja Van, which is based in Singapore.

Another portfolio company B Capital has invested in is Evidation Health, a population health management and analytics platform.

“When we founded B Capital, we believed in investing in the potential and growth of the best minds globally. This includes entrepreneurs located in traditional hotspots such as Silicon Valley and also new innovation centers like Singapore, Bangalore, and Jakarta, just to name a few,” Saverin and Ganguly add.

B Capital has offices in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Singapore.