Capital
Smile deploys capital through two vehicles. Global Gateway Capital funds expansions into new markets, in conjunction with our Market Entry platform. Smile Capital invests from our own balance sheet, into first-time founders and the ventures we build alongside.
- Over a billion dollars in portfolio value across global opportunities
- Direct access to category leaders, across rounds and through funds where Smile holds investment committee, advisory or venture partner relationships
- Leaning into sectors where exponential change is imminent: Frontier Tech, AI, Robotics, Media (+ more)
🌏 Global Gateway Capital
Our capital, your next market.
We are strategic investors bringing value-added capital to ventures looking for their next market, investing directly and through partner funds.
Active capital, not passive. Behind every cheque are Smile's practitioners — experts across consumer, enterprise, media and more. Whatever you're scaling, someone here has done it before.
Our co-investors include regional CXOs + operators from the world's largest technology companies, alongside large strategic Asian families.
💰 Smile Capital
Our balance sheet, your timeline.
Direct investments For first-time founders and venture builders, we bring proprietary capital from our own balance sheet. No forced exits, no sunset timelines, no LP return pressure.
Indirect investments We are also LPs ourselves in a number of funds across Asia + beyond, with whom we work closely to raise follow-on capital for our ventures when the time is right.
🔭 Our Investment Lens
📈
Stage-Agnostic, Global
From seed to exit, across diverse markets in the US, India, SEA and beyond
🤝
Connected Capital
Strategic Asian capital + scale Asian capital — we open access to both, via a global network of capital partners and trusted funds
⚡
What We Back
🎯 Teams with a high spike, driven by a mission + the conviction to build for decades rather than exits
🌱 Companies that define generations + categories, with compounding power and real network effects
🛰️ Sectors on the horizon: frontier tech, AI, robotics and media, with a higher bias for an Asia angle
🧭 Theses are our own, originated and compounded where we have edge
⏳
Long-Term Alignment
Flexible capital, structures, and timelines to fuel each venture’s unique journey
🚀 Our Capital at Work
SpaceX is redefining the future of aerospace by making space travel reusable, scalable, and commercially viable.
Lyft connects millions of riders and drivers across North America through rideshare, bikes, and scooters in one app.
Anthropic is an AI safety and research company building reliable, interpretable, and steerable AI systems across research, policy, and products like Claude.
Hive is bringing AI-powered content moderation to the visual web, removing harmful content across video + imagery in real time.
Carsome is Southeast Asia’s largest used car e-commerce platform, connecting buyers and sellers across the full ownership lifecycle.
Anduril builds autonomous defense systems across sea, land, air, and space, powered by Lattice, its AI sensemaking platform connecting thousands of systems in real time.
Cargomatic operates America’s largest local freight marketplace, connecting shippers with 35,000 daily trucks across ports, intermodal, and last-mile delivery.
Waabi is building the autonomous driver for long-haul trucking, trained in simulation and designed to generalize across vehicles, routes, and geographies.
Osaro builds AI-powered warehouse robots that pick, bag, kit, and depalletize, adapting in real time to inventory and packaging that never stops changing.