Singapore's government is pushing hard to make its public markets more attractive for startups, and is setting up a new fund to support later-stage companies.
The fund, which is a joint collaboration between government ministries and sovereign wealth fund Temasek, is sized at $1.1 billion in its first tranche.
Key Highlights
- Singapore's new pre-IPO fund is also known as Anchor Fund @ 65, which is managed commercially by 65 Equity Partners — a wholly-owned investment platform of Temasek.
- The new fund aims to provide financial assistance for late stage companies that are eventually seeking to go public.
- EDBI, the investment arm of the Singapore Economic Development Board, will also establish a new $370 million Growth IPO Fund to invest in later-stage startups that are 2 (or more) rounds away from IPO.
- Singapore's central bank also announced that it will further enhance its grant program (GEMS scheme) to alleviate the listing costs incurred for companies seeking to go public.
Why It Matters
- Singapore aims to bolster its public stock market, which has struggled with tepid listings and poor trading volumes in the past.
- Southeast Asia is seeing an increasing number of unicorn companies, many overlooking Singapore and considering listings in the United States and Hong Kong.
- Earlier this month, Singapore Exchange (SGX) announced a new framework that would allow the listing of blank-check companies (similar to SPAC in the United States) as another alternative for companies to access the public markets.
