Singapore's Quest Ventures launches maritime tech fund
Singapore’s Quest Ventures and ShipsFocus, a specialized start-up services studio, have achieved a first close of S$10 million ($7.5 million) on a maritime technology fund.
Quest was set up in 2011 by James Tan and Wang Yunming, co-founders of 55tuan, a Chinese discount e-commerce marketplace that listed on NASDAQ in 2015. Tan resigned as CEO in 2017, and Quest was registered in Singapore in 2019. It reached a first close of $50 million last year on a vehicle styled as Fund II. Portfolio companies include Carro, Carousell, ShopBack, and 99.co.
ShipsFocus is a maritime sector-focused co-investment partner of Seeds Capital, the investment arm of government innovation development agency Enterprise Singapore. It aims to transition the shipping industry from analogue to digital systems and, having launched in 2015, positions itself as the first venture studio of its kind globally.
Last year, the incubator committed to investing $50 million across more than 50 maritime start-ups in partnership with Quest, fellow incubator Rainmaking, and a mix of shipping industry corporate VC players such as Innport, KSL Martime Ventures, and TecPier.
The new vehicle, known as Maritime Fund, will invest in early-stage start-ups and technologies spanning applications in shipping and operations, maritime services, and port operations and services. This can include digitization, cleantech, deep tech areas such as autonomous vehicles, and solving for regulatory challenges.
Quest and ShipsFocus estimate the early-stage maritime-tech market is worth $100 billion today and will triple in size by 2030. The maritime industry enables 90% of world trade and, as a high-capital expenditure and operating expenditure industry based on legacy systems, is seen as ripe for technology disruption.
There is a strong regional angle to the thesis, with nine of the world’s top-10 ports based in Asia, and with China, Japan, and Korea supplying more than 90% of new ships every year. Tan Kaixin, the general manager of Seeds Capital, described the maritime sector as a critical part of Singapore’s economy that needs to address efficiency and sustainability issues. The Port of Singapore is the world’s busiest transshipment hub.
Maritime-tech is a discrete seed-stage investment and technology development niche that has proven particularly energetic in Singapore. As recently as June, IMC Ventures, another local VC firm focused on the segment, partnered with Pier71, a government maritime innovation platform, as part of an ecosystem development program.
Previous activity also includes US accelerator TechStars and Singaporean logistics giant Eastern Pacific Shipping launching a maritime accelerator, and PSA Unboxed, a unit of port terminal operator PSA International setting up a S$20 million fund. PSA Unboxed is also a co-investment partner of ShipsFocus.
More on Southeast Asia
Latest News
Asian GPs slow implementation of ESG policies - survey
Asia-based private equity firms are assigning more dedicated resources to environment, social, and governance (ESG) programmes, but policy changes have slowed in the past 12 months, in part due to concerns raised internally and by LPs, according to a...
Singapore fintech start-up LXA gets $10m seed round
New Enterprise Associates (NEA) has led a USD 10m seed round for Singapore’s LXA, a financial technology start-up launched by a former Asia senior executive at The Blackstone Group.
India's InCred announces $60m round, claims unicorn status
Indian non-bank lender InCred Financial Services said it has received INR 5bn (USD 60m) at a valuation of at least USD 1bn from unnamed investors including “a global private equity fund.”
Insight leads $50m round for Australia's Roller
Insight Partners has led a USD 50m round for Australia’s Roller, a venue management software provider specializing in family fun parks.