A former Columbia Business School professor’s fund of hedge funds shop has launched an Asian value fund of funds, it said today.

van Biema Value Partners announced that the van Biema Asia Value Fund debuted at the beginning of August with $215 million from one of the firm’s existing institutional investors. The new vehicle will invest with a small number of Asian value hedge fund managers, generally less than 20, it said, with diversification across Asian markets, market capitalization and assets classes.

van Biema will focus on small pan-Asian value managers employing a variety of styles, according to a statement.

The firm was founded in 2004 by Michael van Biema, who taught at Columbia for a dozen years.