Singapore IP fund commits $52m to cloud-based telecom player

The fund has committed S$70 million ($52 million) to MyRepublic, which has operations in Singapore, Indonesia, New Zealand, and Australia, and wants to expand across the region. It claims to be the world’s first telecom company powered by a proprietary cloud platform, offering broadband internet and related services. According to CEO Malcolm Rodrigues, this single operational platform has enabled MyRepublic to turn EBITDA-positive within two years of entering each new market.

The company was founded in 2011 to take advantage of Singapore’s all-fiber ultra-high-speed broadband network and become the country’s fourth telecom operator. In 2014, it received $20 million from Sunshine Network, a telecom arm of Indonesia’s Sinar Mas, and $10 million from Xavier Niel, founder of French telecom company Free. Brunei telecom operator DST invested S$23 million the following year.

“MyRepublic's unique lean operating model positions it at the vanguard of the telecommunications sector’s digital transformation in one of the most exciting growth regions of the world. The fund’s investment capital aims to enable the company’s growth ambitions, with a focus on IP management and monetization, scaling and expansion,” Kelvin Tan, director of investments at Makara Capital, said in a statement.

MIF’s mandate is to back late-stage start-ups and growth-stage companies with globally competitive technology, encouraging them to use Singapore as a base from which to achieve scale across multiple markets. It was launched earlier this year by IP Value Lab, the enterprise engagement arm of the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS), and local GP Makara.

The fund has a corpus of S$1 billion sourced from strategic investors within and outside Singapore. It will invest S$30-150 million across 10-15 companies in sectors including urban solutions, advanced technologies, financial technology, consumer, alternative energy, and healthcare.

MIF is part of efforts to drive private sector involvement in a 10-year plan, announced by the Singapore government in 2013, to turn the country into a global IP hub. The idea is to become the location of choice for IP transactions and management, IP filings, and IP dispute resolution. Goals include increasing the number of IP-related jobs from 500 to 1,000 within five years, helping 1,500 companies understand the value of their IP by 2019, and providing IP audits and assistance to 150 businesses, also by 2019.

Makara was founded in 2005 as a joint venture with Credit Suisse and made independent by its founding partners in 2008. Its core investment focus areas span infrastructure, energy and innovation ecosystems driven by the development of IP rights.

• Tweet  
• Facebook  
• LinkedIn  
• Google plus  
• Save this article  
• Send to  

• Topics
• Southeast Asia
• Technology
• Expansion
• Singapore
• TMT
• Growth capital
• Makara Capital