Singapore’s Infocomm Investments extends reach to Europe
Infocomm Investments, a VC arm of the Singapore government-backed Infocomm Development Authority (IDA), has opened an office in London, its second overseas base after Silicon Valley.
Infocomm director Zach Tan will lead the new office and has already made the first investment in Europe - a financial technology accelerator called Starupbootcamp FinTech. The firm, set up this year, will introduce its FinTech London accelerator program in Singapore.
From the London base, Infocomm - which manages a $200 million venture fund - plans work with local accelerators in identitying high growth, innovation-driven tech start-ups, typically co-investing $1-$5 million with other VC firms. The partnerships are expected to enable Singapore-based tech start-ups to enter Europe through London, while London-based tech start-ups access Asia through Singapore.
"I am excited about this opportunity to bridge the tech building community and entrepreneurs in London and Singapore with the knowledge, capabilities and connections to access each other's markets," Tan said in a statement.
Singapore is pushing itself to become a technology hub. It launched a smart nation initiative earlier this year, with a view to creating standards for communication tools, data processing, information security and wireless usage.
The government has already committed S$16.1 billion ($12.8 billion) over five years from 2011-2015 for research and development across biomedical sciences, chemicals, energy and electronics. It is also putting efforts to attract interests from international VC investors.
"Sometimes VCs misunderstand the position of Singapore. They look at it and think the market isn't big enough, but that's missing the real story. We don't think of Singapore as the only market. There are more than 600 million people within a short flight of Singapore, and 4.3 billion within 6-7 hours' radius. We offer access to a lot of these markets through our established relationships," Steve Leonard, executive deputy chairman of IDA and chairman of Infocomm, told AVCJ earlier this year.
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.