Top Venture Capital Investment Funds In Singapore

Investments Funds

The venture capital industry has brought a strong ray of hope to the startup ecosystem in Singapore. The investment funds they store by pooling money from wealthy investors have helped countless startups grow and expand.

If you have your dream startup in Singapore awaiting a venture capitalist to push it up, you are not alone. Here is a list of investors that can help you achieve your dream. Chase only those that you think are interested in your industry and the stage of your startup.

Most Active Venture Capitalists In Singapore

SingTel Innov8

Headquarters - Singapore

Stage - Early stage investments.

Sector - High-tech startups.

Ardent Capital

Headquarters - Bangkok

Stage - Seed and early stage investments.

Industry - E commerce, Finance, Venture Capital

JFDI.Asia

Headquarters - Singapore

Stage - Seed, early and grant investments.

Sector - Mobile, Software, E commerce, B2B Enterprise, Web.

Jungle Ventures

Headquarters - Singapore

Stage - Seed and early phase investments.

Sector - Consumer Internet, Enterprise Tech

Welden International

Headquarters - San Francisco, CA

Stage - Seed, early and later phase venture capital finance along with Private equity investments.

Sector - Semiconductor, Security, Software

Adam Street Partners

Headquarters - Chicago, IL

Stage - Seed, early and later.

Industry - Software, Enterprise Software, Biotechnology

Extream Ventures

Headquarters - Singapore

Stage - Seed and early phase investments.

Sector - Software, Social media, Enterprises

GGV Capital

Headquarters - Menlo Park, CA

Stage - Seed, early and later phase venture investments along with Private equity and Debt Financing.

Sector - E-commerce, M-commerce, Mobile, Enterprises, Internet, SAAS, Digital media, etc.

Gobi Partners

Headquarters - Shanghai

Stage - Seed, early and later phase investments.

Sector - Photography, Travel, Advertising.

Carlyle Group

Headquarters - Washington, DC

Stage - Early, later stage and Private equity investments.

Sector - Web Hosting, Healthcare, Software.

Golden Gate Ventures

Headquarters - Singapore

Stage - Seed and early phase financing

Sector - Software, Enterprise Software, E commerce, SAAS, Logistics, Mobile, Payments, etc.

Innosight Ventures

Headquarters - Singapore

Stage - Seed and early phases.

Sector - Finance, E commerce, Security.

JAFCO Asia

Headquarters - Singapore

Stage - Seed, early and later phase investments.

Sector - Mobile, Games and E commerce.

Intel Capital

Headquarters - Santa Clara, CA

Stage - Merger, acquisitions and Private equity investments.

Sector - Enterprise, Digital Media, Mobility and Consumer Internet.

TNF Ventures

Headquarters - Singapore

Stage - Seed and early stage investments.

Sector - Payments, Consumer, Travel, etc.

SEAVI Advent

Headquarters - Singapore

Stage - Early and later phase along with Private equity investments.

Sector - IT, Telecommunication, Cleantech, Energy, Retail, etc.

Infocomm Investments

Headquarters - Singapore

Stage - Growth stage investments.

Sector - Advanced Technology.

      

IGlobe Partners

Headquarters - Singapore

Stage - Early and later phase investments.

Sector - Manufacturing, Software and Cloud Computing.

McLean Watson Capital

Headquarters - Toronto, ON

Stage - Seed, early and later stage investments.

Sector - IT, Internet, Telecommunication, Energy, Software, etc.

Upstream Ventures

Headquarters - Singapore

Stage - Seed, early and later phases.

Sector - Software, Security, Biometrics, IT, IDM, Internet, etc.

Stream Global

Headquarters - Singapore

Stage - Seed and early stage financing.

Sector - Digital Media, Mobile Tech and ICT.

Conclusion

Venture capital firms usually prefer to invest in later stages when a company already starts earning revenue. However, there are many investors who are willing to invest in seed stage provided it is a billion dollar idea. If you think your idea has that potential to grow BIG, you must spend time in raising venture capital.

For more information on venture capital investment funds, feel free to get in touch with us at MergerAlpha.

Happy fundraising!

Raising Money? Seek These Investment Funds In Singapore

If you want to feel nervous, excited and thrilled all at a time then be an entrepreneur and raise capital. Yes, capital raising is the most crucial and challenging phase of building a business. If you are already running a fundraising campaign for your newly-started business, then you are definitely one of the luckiest persons on earth because no matter if you succeed or fail to convince the investors, the effort itself is an achievement as it teaches you a lot many things.

So, if it is the city state of Singapore where you are looking for suitable investment funds, there is no dearth of options for you. Today, there are more than 100 venture capital firms in Singapore aiming to invest in high-potential startups with an innovative approach.

If you think you are ready with what it all takes to convince a VC, below are some of the best names for you from which you can choose a suitable investor for your dream venture. The investors differ in their sector preference and stage of investment so it is best to first identify the right investors and then start chasing them.

         

Popular Investment Funds In Singapore

Ardent Capital

Headquarters - Bangkok

Stage - Seed and early stage investments.

Industry - E commerce, Finance, Venture Capital

Adam Street Partners

Headquarters - Chicago, IL

Stage - Seed, early and later.

Industry - Software, Enterprise Software, Biotechnology

Carlyle Group

Headquarters - Washington, DC

Stage - Early, later stage and Private equity investments.

Sector - Healthcare, Software, Web Hosting

JFDI.Asia

Headquarters - Singapore

Stage - Seed, early and grant investments.

Sector - E commerce, Mobile, Software, B2B Enterprise, Web.

Jungle Ventures

Headquarters - Singapore

Stage - Seed and early phase investments.

Sector - Consumer Internet, Enterprise Tech

Welden International

Headquarters - San Francisco, CA

Stage - Seed, early and later phase venture capital finance along with Private equity investments.

Sector - Semiconductor, Security, Software

Extream Ventures

Headquarters - Singapore

Stage - Seed and early phase investments.

Sector - Software, Social media, Enterprises

GGV Capital

Headquarters - Menlo Park, CA

Stage - Seed, early and later phase venture investments along with Private equity and Debt Financing.

Sector - Mobile, Internet, E-commerce, M-commerce, SAAS, Digital media, Enterprises, etc.

Gobi Partners

Headquarters - Shanghai

Stage - Seed, early and later phase investments.

Sector - Advertising, Photography, Travel.

Golden Gate Ventures

Headquarters - Singapore

Stage - Seed and early phase financing

Sector - Software, Enterprise Software, E commerce, SAAS, Logistics, Mobile, Payments, etc.

Intel Capital

Headquarters - Santa Clara, CA

Stage - Merger, acquisitions and Private equity investments.

Sector - Enterprise, Mobility, Digital Media, Consumer Internet,

Innosight Ventures

Headquarters - Singapore

Stage - Seed and early phases.

Sector - Finance, E commerce, Security.

SingTel Innov8

Headquarters - Singapore

Stage - Early stage investments.

Sector - High-tech startups.

JAFCO Asia

Headquarters - Singapore

Stage - Seed, early and later phase investments.

Sector - E commerce, Mobile, Games

SEAVI Advent

Headquarters - Singapore

Stage - Early and later phase along with Private equity investments.

Sector - IT, Cleantech, Telecommunication, Energy, Retail, etc.

Infocomm Investments

Headquarters - Singapore

Stage - Growth stage investments.

Sector - Advanced Technology.

IGlobe Partners

Headquarters - Singapore

Stage - Early and later phase investments.

Sector - Software, Manufacturing and Cloud Computing.

Stream Global

Headquarters - Singapore

Stage - Seed and early stage financing.

Sector - Digital Media, Mobile Tech and ICT.

McLean Watson Capital

Headquarters - Toronto, ON

Stage - Seed, early and later stage investments.

Sector - IT, Internet, Telecommunication, Energy, Software, etc.

Upstream Ventures

Headquarters - Singapore

Stage - Seed, early and later phases.

Sector - Software, Security, Biometrics, IT, IDM, Internet, etc.

TNF Ventures

Headquarters - Singapore

Stage - Seed and early stage investments.

Sector - Payments, Consumer, Travel, etc.

Conclusion

Convincing any of these investors can be very easy once you have all the prerequisites in the right place. Starting from a unique idea to having a smart and intelligent team, an innovative business model, a strong value proposition, a sizable and scalable market, an impressive first pitch and of course, the right attitude are some of the most valuable things you must have with you.

Do share your fundraising experience with us in the comment box given below. For more information in investment funds in Singapore, feel free to get in touch with us at Merger Alpha.

Good Luck!

From Raising Investment Funds To Making Profit - How VC Firms Execute It

Raising Investment Funds

While your journey as a first-time entrepreneur raising venture capital is filled with challenges, the story on the other side also has a lot of twists and turns that ultimately result in huge profit. My years of observation and experience says that it is equally challenging for VC firms to raise and manage their investment funds as it is for seed-stage entrepreneurs making the best of their efforts to convince a potential investor.

If you are on your way to attract venture capital for your startup, it would be my great pleasure to make the functioning a VC firm little more transparent to you so that you know where exactly you are heading and how your financiers will manage to back your startup.

The main goal of a venture capital firm is to make profit for its investors (the main source of fund) and its own team for which it sets out in search of potential markets that have the ability to get them back the desired returns.

Typically, the investors who pour money in venture investment funds include limited partner investors that comprises of endowment funds, pension funds, charitable organizations, investment firms and others wealthy individuals or groups. Once VCs collect the fund, it becomes their first responsibility to get their investors a good ROI which, naturally, makes them go choosy with startups.

The fund primarily operates through other people’s money while the firm’s major partners’ contribution is only 1 percent of the total fund.

Once there is enough fund, VCs target growing industries like Technology, Telecommunication, Energy, Finance, Real Estate and other sectors for investment opportunities. They make their choices in two different segments, one is the industry and the other is the stage of investment. Typically, they are more interested in the growth stage due to lower risk, however, there are many who are willing to invest in the seed stage. Some VCs invest in the all the stages including seed, early, growth and later stage.

      

However, it is not just about having the fund and investing it somewhere but also about ensuring that the fund is utilized in the most productive manner to ensure high revenues. The more revenues you earn, the higher is their share of profit so they not only examine your startup's potential but also fill themselves with up with adequate knowledge about your industry. This helps them study the market analytics of the sector and offer you necessary guidance and mentorship whenever and wherever needed.

While choosing a portfolio company, VCs usually look for certain prerequisites like a unique idea, a sizable market, a smart and efficient team with great knowledge of management and finance, a group of beta customers and an innovative business model. Absence of any one of these factors makes the investors either turn back or thin several times before investing.

Once they get in partnership with your startup, they (in most cases) choose to become a member of  your board and take participation in critical decision makings. If needed, they feel free to voice their opinion as they are not just investors but also masters of business management. With an unwavering aim to help your startup become successful, they offer sincere guidance and mentorship and also use their connections with other influential people in the industry to offer you more ideas on building better strategies.

Typically, venture capital companies expect a return of 25 to 35 percent on each year's’ investment. The tenure usually ranges from 3 to 8 years followed by exit with their share of profit. Right from the moment they get into partnership till exit, they strive their best to make things favorable for you so that you can gain enough market traction and earn enough revenues. They then distribute the profit share among their investors and also keep a percentage with them. To minimize risk, they usually make simultaneous investments in a number of companies so that if one investment fails, they can cover up the loss from the other startups.

So that’s how their investment funds snowball and return back bigger through your startup. If you are interested to know more about venture capital, feel free to visit Merger Alpha.

Do share with us your experiences with venture capital raising in the comment box given below.

Good luck!

How Do VC Firms Manage Their Investment Funds

Investment Funds

The rapidly expanding venture capital industry is providing the startup world with the much-needed impetus. While the VC industry has already become a potential driver for the US economy, the Southeast Asian countries have also started witnessing the gradual influence of venture capital on potential startups. The city-state of Singapore is already on its way to become the Silicon Valley of Southeast Asia owing to its fast developing VC industry. As an entrepreneur, if you are willing to raise venture capital for your startup, it would be a good idea to gather some information on how exactly the venture capitalists manage their investment funds and make profit.

Where Do The VC Investment Funds Come From?

I am sure you will be one of the happiest persons on earth after successfully raising your startup with venture capital. But then, how would you feel if you realize someday that you don’t really know where the VC investment funds actually come from? There must be someone to provide fund to the venture capitalists, right? So who they are?

Well, a major portion of the Dollars come from LPs, i.e. limited partner investors that mainly include large institutions like pension funds, charitable foundations, endowments, insurance firms and other wealthy individuals or families, corporations and a small percentage from HNIs as well. Typically, the contribution from the major partners of a venture capital firm is only 1 percent of the total investment fund.

How Do They Utilize The Fund?

The VCs usually pour their investors’ money in high-growth industries like Telecommunications, Software, Multimedia, E commerce and others. This is quite contrary to the myth that the VCs look only for good ideas. They, in fact, pick up one or a few growing industries and then look for innovative ideas in that sector.

Next to industry is the stage of development of the firm that they take into consideration. Venture capital firms prefer to avoid seed stage investments as the business at that stage is quite uncertain and the risk factor is very high. They try to meet their investors’ expectations by taking moderate risks and ensuring a huge ROI. Though there are VC firms that make seed-stage investments, the major interest is most at the growth stage (once commercialization begins).

To minimize the risk, the VCs usually invest in groups, i.e. two or more venture capitalists invest in a single startup to share the risk and gain returns from a moderate investments. This strategy not only decreases their workload but also gives them the opportunity to explore other investment opportunities in the market.

They expect a return of 25 percent to 35 percent on each year’s investment in the startup and the tenure usually ranges from 3 to 5 years. During this tenure, they provide the investee company with many additional services apart from capital, such as, offering guidance and knowledge sharing, contacts sharing, offering help in building business strategies and deciding exit-policies.

How Do They Choose Their Portfolio Companies?

The VCs usually choose their portfolio companies based on certain prerequisites like a unique business idea, an innovative business model, a sizable and scalable market,  a great management team with excellent knowledge of management and finance, a strong pitch that drive their interest, business valuation papers and other important documents related to the origin of the business and most importantly a strong value proposition.

How Do They Protect Their Investments?

Typically, a VC firm prefers to become a part of the management team of the investee company and also takes part in critical board meetings. They desperately come forward to express their opinion on financial matters just to ensure that the fund they have invested is directed in the right direction so that each and every penny contributes to the overall ROI. Apart from this, they also prefer to invest in more than one startups to ensure that even if one deal fails, the other one manages to cover up the loss.

Conclusion

So that was just a small introduction to how exactly a venture capital firm operates. Hope the above information helps you in your overall research on the VC industry. If you have already kickstarted your venture capital raising campaign, you must see to it that you chase only the right investor, i.e. the one who is interested in the industry you are dealing with as I mentioned above. Also, remember to have all the prerequisites in the right place so that you don’t have to stumble at any point of time while in front of a potential investor.

  

Do share with us your capital raising experiences with us in the comment box given below.

Good luck!