Deal Street Asia reported that The Billion Dollar Fund for Women (TBDF), a global consortium of venture funds tackling the gender funding gap, has reached its goal of mobilising $1 billion in pledges. The consortium was created to mobilise capital to invest in women-founded companies within the next decade. Supporters of the fund include Golden Gate Ventures, Teja Ventures and government-backed entities such as SGInnovate from Singapore, Astia Fund and Motley Fool Ventures in the US, to name a few.
Topics: Investments, Talent
DealStreetAsia reported that according to a new agreement signed between the Vietnamese government and local and international venture capital firms at the Vietnam Venture Summit, an amount of VND10 trillion will be invested in Vietnamese startups over the next three years. Other partnerships also signed at the summit include a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Ministry of Investment and Planning and Golden Gate Ventures to support the growth of Vietnamese startups and another tie-up between the ministry and SGInnovate to develop deep tech companies in the country.
Topics: Investments
The Straits Times reported that SGInnovate has signed a Memorandum of Intent (MOI) with the Centre for Quantum Technologies (CQT) at NUS promote quantum technology in Singapore. Through the two-year collaboration, both organisations will aid local researchers working within the quantum technology field to upscale their solutions to reach and connect with the commercial industry, transforming quantum science into solid, scalable industry solutions. The two parties will also host joint events and workshops to promote quantum tech and awareness of quantum tech, especially among potential industry partners and investors, aiming to reach over 2,000 individuals from the deep tech ecosystem in Singapore. The partnership adds to SGInnovate’s recent investment in quantum tech startups, such as communications-focused startup SpeQtral, quantum computing startup Horizon Quantum Computing, and Atomionics, which works on using atomic waves for navigation and exploration in areas without GPS systems.
Speaking to The Business Times, Steve Leonard, Founding CEO of SGInnovate, mentioned that talks are in progress with various VC firms to invest in quantum startups. “Through our partnership with the Centre for Quantum Technologies, we are going straight to the source of remarkable quantum research conducted in Singapore. We want to help entrepreneurial scientists working with quantum technologies to build commercially successful startups,” said Steve.
Topics: Investments, Quantum Computing
Today’s Manager featured an article on how technology can complement human skillsets rather than being a threat, from an interview with Steve Leonard and Juliana Lim, along with contributions from SGInnovate’s portfolio companies, AIDA Technologies, TabSquare, and See-Mode Technologies. Highlighting how technology can help solve real-world problems, Steve shared that AI can alleviate the mounting pressures on healthcare systems worldwide through faster diagnosis, better patient management, and new methods of robotic surgery. In terms of responding to talent capital needs, Juliana shared how SGInnovate is building the deep tech talent pool in Singapore through the SGInnovate Summation Programme, where a curated pool of students in multiple disciplines from local and overseas IHLs are placed within some of Singapore’s most promising deep tech organisations. The three portfolio companies also shared how they have put their AI applications to good use.
Topics: Investments, MedTech, Talent
The Business Times reported on the announcement from SGInnovate's appointment of five additional co-investors under the Startup SG Equity scheme. This scheme, part of the Startup SG initiative by Enterprise Singapore, aims to accelerate private investment into innovative, Singapore-based tech startups with intellectual property and global market potential. The newly appointed partners are ST Engineering Ventures, Elev8.VC, Golden Gate Ventures (together with its blockchain fund, LuneX Ventures), GREE Ventures and Verge Capital Management. Curated through a stringent process based on their investment track record, financial strength, management team capabilities, as well as adequacy of facilities and resources, they will co-invest with SGInnovate in early-stage deep tech startups in fields such as AI and MedTech, as well as providing strategic and management guidance to help early-stage deep tech startups grow their business and expand into new markets. These five new partners join 17 other SGInnovate co-investors that were first announced in December 2017. To date, SGInnovate and its partners have completed 22 co-investment deals, and collectively invested more than S$52 million under the scheme. A seed investment into Merkle Science, led by LuneX Ventures, was one of these deals, and the first to be completed with a newly-appointed co-investor.
Topics: Investments
Tech in Asia reported that Singapore-based AI and predictive analytics provider AIDA Technologies announced that it has raised an undisclosed sum in a Series A round from Mastercard, Kuok Ventures and SGInnovate. The investment will support AIDA’s deepening penetration into existing markets and expansion into North Asia, especially Hong Kong and Japan. Last June, SGInnovate had also made an undisclosed investment in AIDA Technologies.
Topics: A.I., Startups, Investments