Golden Gate Ventures - an early-stage venture capital fund in South-east Asia - yesterday said it is oversubscribed on its third fund, less than three months after the fund's first close, and that it is closed to new investors.

The US$100 million (S$137 million) Golden Gate Ventures Fund III is an early-stage (Series A) venture capital fund focused on consumer Internet trends in the region.

It is anchored by existing investors such as Singapore investment firm Temasek Holdings, Hanwha, Naver and EE Capital.

New investors of the fund include Japanese entrepreneur and investor Taizo Son's Mistletoe, Mitsui Fudosan, IDO Investments and Ion Pacific.

Golden Gate Ventures said in a statement yesterday that interest in investing through the fund comes at a time when there is a pronounced rise in South-east Asia in consumer spending and mobile Internet adoption, a flood of foreign capital looking for investment opportunities, and an increase of serial entrepreneurs and skilled tech engineers.

Co-founder Vinnie Lauria said: "When I compare the tech ecosystem of South-east Asia to other markets, it's really hit an inflection point - annual investment is now measured in the billions.

" That puts South-east Asia on a global stage with the US, China and India. Yet there is a youthfulness that reminds me of Silicon Valley circa 2005, shortly before social media and the iPhone took off."

The fund's proprietary deal-tracking database is forecasting at least 400 venture capital investments in the region this year.