Blue Sky Alternative Investments is seeking to raise $US17 million ($23.8 million) to back a south-east Asian payments business, its first major venture investment since the beginning of a bitter war with short sellers that wiped out almost 80 per cent of its market value.

On Monday, Blue Sky sales representatives began marketing a "fintech venture capital opportunity" in the form of the Akulaku Fund, targeting 40 per cent plus net annual return per annum.