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Singapore government to invest $39m in start-up ecosystem

  • Andrew Woodman
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The Singapore government is to pump an extra S$50 million ($39 million) into its early stage co-investment vehicle in a bid enliven the city state's start-up ecosystem.

According to Tech in Asia, Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean announced on Wednesday that the government will increase its commitment to the Early-Stage Venture Funding Scheme (ESVF), which operates under the government's National Research Foundation (NRF).

The scheme, which allows the state to back local start-ups alongside other early-stage investors, was established in 2008. This latest injection of capital is an addition to the S$50 million invested when ESVF was first set up.

ESVF will be involved in Series A rounds in the $1-3 million range, providing one-to-one investment matching with selected venture capital firms. The VCs will have the option to buy back the shares from NRF at 5% interest. The agency will launch a call-for-proposals soon.

The first iteration of the scheme involved five VC firms: NanoStart Asia, Raffles Venture Partners, and Walden International. In total, the program invested in 21 projects, out of which three were acquired.

Among them was Yfind Technologies, a start-up which deals in indoor positioning and real-time location analytics, which was acquired by US wi-fi technology firm Ruckus Wireless for an undisclosed sum in July.

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