While some investors might be shying away from venture capital right now, it looks as if Singapore state-backed investment fund, and prolific VC investor, Temasek is doubling down.
It has just invested 90 million Singapore dollars ($62 million) in four venture capitals funds, at the same time it’s putting $600 million into its own VC unit – Vertex Venture Holdings – in a bid to take the firm global.
According to the Straits Times, Singapore has backed early stage investors NSI Ventures, Monk’s Hill Ventures, Jungle Ventures and Golden Gate Ventures but did not disclose how much each would get. The last two, Jungle and Golden Gate, are in the process of raising $50 million and a $100 million, respectively, for their latest vehicles.
This comes two days after it was revealed that Temasek’s own VC unit, Vertex Venture, got a $600 million injection from its parent to fund its global expansion.
The extra capital will allow Vertex to expand its focus – which has so far comprised Singapore and Southeast Asia – to include the United States, Israel and China. It will also broaden it tech and media sector focus to include healthcare investments.
Vertex’s early investments include luxury e-commerce portal Reebonz and mobile taxi app GrabTaxi (yes, it’s part that group) , it has also listed four start-ups, including mobile game developer IGG.
However, it will be a tough call hoping for futures IPOs in this current environment, which may explain the renewed focus on the healthcare sector which has been somewhat isolated from the recent IPO drought.
Photo: Shubhika Bharathwaj