SEEDS Capital (SEEDS), the investment arm of Enterprise Singapore (EnterpriseSG), has appointed 20 new local and global partners to co-invest in innovative Singapore-based deep tech startups.
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Under the Startup SG Equity scheme1, SEEDS Capital will set aside S$150 million over the next three years, to catalyse another S$300 million through its private sector partners, in areas including Advanced Manufacturing, Pharmbio / Medtech, Agrifood Tech, Sustainability (such as Energy, Circular Economy, Urban Mobility, Water), Spacetech and Quantumtech.
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With the new appointments, SEEDS Capital now has a pool of 52 co-investors with strong technical and domain expertise, commercial knowledge, international networks, early- growth investment capabilities, and the ability to lead funding rounds, which will help startups scale successfully.
Enabling startups’ overseas ambitions through global networks
New partners like East Ventures (Indonesia), Global Brain (Japan), HIVEN (South Korea), Paspalis Capital (Australia) and Valuence Ventures (USA/ South Korea) provide resources and global networks to support startups in exploring and entering new markets, for customer acquisition or diversifying supply chains. For instance, Paspalis’ strong presence in Australia’s Northern Territory has provided SEEDS’ Spacetech investees like Equatorial Space Systems with opportunities to test-bed their solutions; East Ventures’ extensive networks in Indonesia has helped SEEDS’ investee Mesh Bio secure its first Indonesian customer and has also supported AMILI to expand its operations into Indonesia.
The new appointments also include local investors familiar with Singapore’s operating landscape, who can advise and mentor startups in areas like regulation and scaling. These funds can amplify their deployment in Singapore, contributing to the local capital pool and ecosystem development. Some of these include Vickers Venture Partners, iGlobe Partners, K3 Ventures, Antares Ventures, Monk’s Hill Ventures and Tin Men Capital.
“Despite the relative nascency of Singapore’s deep tech landscape compared to more mature startup ecosystems, we feel that the deep tech ecosystem here is reaching a critical point, thanks largely to the numerous government initiatives. While we have made selective deep tech investments in the past, we are extremely excited about our current pipeline, which includes a significantly higher proportion of deep tech startups, with founders targeting diverse areas such as material science in agri-tech, advanced robotics, artificial intelligence for healthcare diagnostics, and next-generation semiconductor technologies across Southeast Asia.,” said Mr Arun Pai, Principal, Monk’s Hill Ventures.
Deep tech startups in particular require more support, as they often face long technology and product development periods and require substantial capital investment, especially at the growth stage, for production lines, industrial scaling, or clinical trials. New partner funds like healthcare VCs Kurma Partners, 22Health Ventures and Trinity Innovation Biosciences Singapore; sustainability VCs Eurazeo and Shift4Good; as well as hard tech VCs Xora, Matter Venture Partners and ST Engineering Ventures are equipped with industry and technical expertise to better guide and support the development of these technologies.
To date, close to S$3 billion has been invested in over 330 startups under the Startup SG Equity scheme. To better support the development of early to early-growth stage deep tech startups, SEEDS had also raised its co-investment cap from S$8 million to S$12 million for each deep tech startup. The list of SEEDS’ newly appointed partners can be found in Annex A.
About SEEDS Capital
As the investment arm of Enterprise Singapore, SEEDS Capital catalyses smart investments into innovative Singapore-based early-stage startups with strong intellectual content and
global market potential. We adopt a co-investment model, working hand in hand with institutional investors from around the world.
Leveraging our collective expertise and networks, SEEDS Capital help startups commercialise, realise their business development plans and expand globally. SEEDS Capital focus our investments into emerging and strategic sectors aligned with national priorities, including Manufacturing, Trade & Connectivity, Human Health & Potential, Urban Solutions & Sustainability, and Smart Nation & Digital Economy
