VENTURE CAPITAL IN SINGAPORE

Abstract

Venture Capital in Singapore Venture Capital as a form of equity financing is a new activity in Singapore. This paper looks at the US venture capital industry and its history as an introduction to the concept of venture capital. With the US situation as a guide, a contextual frame-work for Singapore is evolved for discussion. With the frame-work in mind, the paper traces the beginning of venture capital in Singapore and focuses on the fact that in Singapore, it is driven less by seed or start-up financing that is commonly associated with the funding of ideas, innovations or concepts and more on being the direct result of a manufacturing infrastructure that can meet up to the manufacturing demands that a venture project in its expansion requires. The various manifestations of venture capital investing entities such as the government sector; the local corporations or other - wise known as corporate venture capitalists (eve) ; and lastly, but not least, the private independent venture capital firms or synonymously known as venture funds, are examined. Various firms or bodies in each of these manifestations are also treated in some detail, while looking at the motivational factors behind them. Finally, a comparative study is made of the venture capital industry in the US and Singapore, deriving broad trends that may not be statistically significant owing to the small size of the Singapore situation, but which nevertheless provides revealing insights into the current level of the venture capital industry in Singapore.