2017

2017 May 16

Girl Talk: Shaping the Girls in ICT story through conversation

NUS Enterprise

Singapore celebrated Girls in ICT Day 2017 on 20 April with a panel discussion involving influential female start-up founders and women who work in tech companies. The event was co-organised by NUS Enterprise, Angels of Impact and Female Founders.

The three entrepreneurs on the panel are among 15% of women who make up the Singaporean start-up founder community. In Singapore, only 3% of venture capital funds go to women in Singapore, shared Joanna Catalano, President of the Singapore Chapter of Female Founders.

One thing that draws all the women together is grit, laced with elegance.

“Even if I start a business and fail, I can start again.” — Yiping Goh.

Don’t be daunted by failure, said Yiping, who had learnt the ropes of running a business as the 8-year-old cashier of her parents’ hawker stall. Daring experimentation is not new to the Real Estate major-turned-entrepreneur, who embraced the NUS Overseas Colleges programme for its opportunity to travel abroad and later gained further overseas experience in Indonesia-based eCommerce platform Matahari Mall.

2017 May 11

SPRING Singapore appoints Quest Ventures as an Accredited Mentor Partner (AMP) under Startup SG Founder

OpenGov Asia

Quest Ventures is pleased to announce that we are now an Accredited Mentor Partner under the Startup SG Founder program after a comprehensive, multi-agency evaluation process.

“The 17 AMPs range across different industries from manufacturing, fintech, digital commerce and medical technologies.

An evaluation panel with representatives from SPRING, National Research Foundation (NRF), Economic Development Board (EDB), Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), and Infocomm Media Development Authority of Singapore (IMDA), deliberated on the selection. The AMPs were assessed on a set of criteria which included the track record of management team and quality of development programmes.”

2017 Apr 21

Meet the VC: Quest Ventures on why Chinese founders are tougher than Singaporean entrepreneurs

e27

“James Tan, Managing Partner of Quest Ventures, expounds on the strengths and shortcomings of Singapore startups and the state of the Chinese tech ecosystem.”

“Needless to say, the founders (of Quest Ventures) know first-hand how difficult it is to build and scale a startup sustainably. e27 spoke with Tan, who is currently based in China, to gather his thoughts of the state of Singapore’s tech ecosystem, and how it matches up to the US and China.”

2017 Apr 10

Mapping out growth

Portfolio Magazine

“Since the time that James Tan started Quest Ventures in 2011, it has funded some of the top startups in Southeast Asia including Carousell, 99.co, ShopBack, Ethis, Xfers, and Oddle.me, among many others. It remains focused on startups that have scalability and replicability in large Internet communities.”

“We continue to scan the horizon for the next big thing to bet on. We are usually the first cheque or investment into a tech startup so this means we are unusually forward-looking and can take a long term view on investments that few can,” says James. “Our DNA is deeply entrepreneurial. All our staff are hands-on and work hard side-by-side with entrepreneurs whom we consider part of our family. The Quest family is very close knit.”

2017 Apr 07

Impact on tech with changes in US visa rules

The Straits Times

The Straits Times asked Quest Ventures’ managing partner, James Tan, for his opinion on the changes surrounding the issuance of H1B work visas for employment in the United States.

Asked if the changes in visa rules and cost will affect tech workers based in the US or force tech workers to reconsider the US as a work destination, James said, “If one qualifies for the visa, why wouldn’t it be worth it to stay on, especially in tech and in the Bay Area? While the visa is important, its cost nonetheless pales against the opportunities and costs of living in the US.”

2017 Apr 03

Fostering Startups

China Daily

In a cover story for the ASEAN Edition of the China Daily, Quest Ventures’ James Tan was interviewed along with Edith Yeung of 500 Startups, and Duncan Logan of RocketSpace.

James said, “Before, China was a few years behind the West. Now, it is a few days behind… Chinese money moves faster, is more aggressive and makes decisions more quickly.”

Commenting on the financial front, however, Tan noted that the ‘white hot’ startup scene is headed for a correction in valuation. “You’re already seeing it in India, but it hasn’t occurred in China.”

2017 Mar 22

Singapore No. 1 in world for start-up talent: Report

The Straits Times

The Straits Times covered the latest report from Startup Genome and remarked that “perhaps the biggest surprise coming out of a 150-page research report covering 10,000 start-ups and 300 partner companies worldwide is that tiny Singapore has overthrown tech centre Silicon Valley as the world’s No. 1 for start-up talent.”

The Republic also has the sixth-highest percentage of immigrant founders at 35 per cent.

“Singapore is an open society and welcomes entrepreneurs from around the world to create the next big thing here,” said Mr James Tan, managing partner of Asian technology venture fund Quest Ventures.”

Besides Quest Ventures, Dr Alex Lin of SGInnovate, Mr Lim Der Shing of JobsCentral Group and Mr Tiang Lim Foo of SeedPlus were also quoted.

2017 Mar 22

S$20m for first-time entrepreneurs under Startup SG initiative

Channel NewsAsia

A budget of S$20 million will be set aside under the Startup SG initiative to support first-time entrepreneurs. This was announced by Minister of State for Trade and Industry Koh Poh Koon on Wednesday (Mar 22) at an event marking the opening of three new blocks at JTC LaunchPad @ one-north.

As Deputy Chairman of ACE and responsible for driving internationalisation, Quest Ventures’ managing partner James Tan co-hosted the launch and site tour together with Poon Hong Yuen, CEO of SPRING Singapore; Alvin Tan, Assistant CEO of JTC; and other senior representatives.

2017 Mar 22

新加坡政府拨2亿元入起步新加坡投资计划

联合早报

新加坡政府将拨出2亿元入“起步新加坡投资”计划，用来投资在进行深奥科技的起步公司。政府也拨款2000万元入“起步新加坡创办人”计划，协助首次开办公司者创业。

国家发展部兼贸工部政务部长许宝琨医生今天在纬壹科技城起步谷三座新大楼的入伙庆祝会致词时，针对在贸工部拨款委员会国会辩论上公布的一系列“起步新加坡”计划做进一步说明。

身为新加坡创业行动社群副主席的求索创投管理合伙人陈中、新加坡标新局总裁、裕廊集团副总裁及其他高级代表联合主持仪式并参观起步谷。

2017 Mar 21

Startup Genome quotes Quest Ventures in report on global startup ecosystems

Startup Genome

In a wide-ranging report that covered startup ecosystems around the globe, JF Gautheir, Founder and CEO of Startup Genome, said, “our (startup) culture is special and truly global… people who are busy working on their own ideas and organisations frequently take the time to make (introductions, favours, connections)”.

Beijing and Shanghai appeared in the report for the first time, and immediately leaped into 4th and 8th respectively, pushing Singapore to the 12th position from its previous 10th.

Singapore has the 6th highest Percentage of Immigrant Founders in the world at 35%. It also has the 3rd highest level of Global Connectedness of all top 20 ecosystems outperforming even Silicon Valley.

Invited to provide a human perspective to the data, Quest Ventures’ James Tan was quoted: “Singapore is an open society and welcomes entrepreneurs around the world to create the next big thing here.”